Mechanistra
by krashkart
Summary: While helping the Asgards the SG1 team has an accident and find themselves somewhere unexpected, and meet some old friends. A 'Detour' universe story. Written by krashkart aka squid109 and Tarantulas
1. Hot Persuit

Authors: squid109 (aka mizor) and Tarantulas  
Disclaimer: we don't own the characters, not getting paid etc  
Rating: PG-13  
Archive: tell us first  
Review: please  
A/N: This is the sequel to Detour.

* * *

**Mechanistra**

**Hot Pursuit**

O'Neill figured that realistically he shouldn't have been surprised at the recent turn of events. One thing he had learned after his dealings with the Asgard was that nothing EVER went according to plan. It had started out simply enough; he and the SG-1 team had been invited to go on a shakedown cruise on the Asgard's newest O'Neill class warship, the _Samantha Carter_. Being that the Asgard were one of Earth's primary allies and he was now in charge of Stargate Command it really wasn't an offer he could refuse. Besides, Thor had promised the refreshments would actually be palatable for a change. Naturally things had quickly gone to Hell in a hand basket. A Replicator ship had been spotted and since the _Samantha Carter_ was the closest available combat craft that had any chance of defeating it, it was "heyde ho and off we go".

"I am afraid I have mixed news General O'Neill, said Thor. "As expected our modified shields were able to defeat the Replicators weaponry, however most unexpectedly our new weapons were not able to penetrate their shields. I fear that we will have to use the disruptor weapon you designed with knowledge obtained from the Ancients Library. Unfortunately its range is limited so we will have to close the distance between our ship and the enemy's by a considerable margin."

"Just how close will we have to be Thor?" asked Lt Colonel Carter. She was still a little bit embarrassed about having a warship named after her.

"Within hundreds of kilometers. The effects of the magnetar are degrading the _Carter's_ fire control systems."

"And just what is a magnetar?" asked O'Neill.

"It's a type of neutron star General" replied Carter. "One with an enormously strong magnetic field. Typically with a strength over a quadrillion times that of Earths magnetic field."

"At this close a proximity to the star, General O'Neill, should our shields fail the magnetic effect of the star would pull the very iron out of your blood cells. Hopefully our shields will maintain themselves."

Jack hoped that the last was an attempt at humor by Thor but with the Asgard you could never be sure.

When the Replicator ship had realized that it's weapons were ineffective against the Asgard warship it had changed course towards the collapsed star. Apparently hoping to use the chaotic conditions near the star to blind the sensors of its pursuer and make it's escape.

There was a good chance their plan would succeed. When it was young the star had been the larger partner of a double star system. When it had gone nova and collapsed into a neutron star the force of the explosion had altered its orbit. It was now much closer to the star that had once been its companion. Once been because the neutron star was now busy devouring the smaller star. The gravity of the neutron star was literally ripping the other star apart. Great sheets of star stuff where streaming from the doomed star towards the neutron star where, when they impacted with the surface of the star they released a torrent of radiation.

This was not the only problem the star was presenting. According to Thor the magnetic poles of the star were going to shift soon.

"And this means?" asked General O'Neill

Carter tried to explain, "When the poles shift, the moving magnetic fields will heat the surface of the star to at least 20 million degrees Celsius. This will result in a burst of gamma radiation that will in one second exceed the total amount of energy our sun produces in one year. Also during this period the magnetic field of the star will increase by several orders of magnitude."

"So I take it we do not want to be here when that happens. Err, just when do you expect this to happen Thor?"

"Soon very soon"

"Then lets just use your disruptor thingy on that ship and get us out of here."

"We are now within firing range General O'Neill"

"Do it Thor"

Unfortunately Thor's estimate of when the magnetic poles would shift had been optimistic. Within the neutron star the pressures had been building for thousands of years reached the critical point. Magnetic lines of flux crossed, bent and broke. On earth such an event was called a starquake. For a moment the magnetic field around the star was magnified by a billion times as the star emitted a gamma ray bust that for the duration of the burst outshined galaxies. In that instant the conditions in space near the star exceeded the conditions of the Big Bang. Something had to give and it did. The very fabric of space ripped and the Replicator ship and the _Samantha Carter_ went … elsewhere.

O'Neill was suddenly surrounded by scores of other O'Neill's, those nearest to him appearing real and solid while the further ones were insubstantial, ghostlike. Older O'Neill's and younger ones, some in uniform and some not. Those in uniform had rank insignias ranging from captain to three star general. At the same time there were thoughts in his head that were his but not his.

Confused he turned his gaze towards Lt Colonel Carter. There were multitudes of Sam's as well. Like the O'Neill's they varied in age and appearance. Some were obviously pregnant and some had children. One of the closer Sams was standing next to a boy about five years old; the boy's features were disturbingly similar to his.

Then everything slipped back into normalcy. There was only one of each team member.

"Whoa", said Dr Jackson. "What was that all about?"

"General O'Neill perhaps you should check the main viewscreen." As usual Teal'c appeared to be completely unfazed by developments.

The viewscreen no longer showed the neutron star and its tortured companion. Instead the screen showed that the _Carter_ was in relatively clear space apparently not too far, as astronomical distances go from a rather ordinary looking orange-yellow star.

"Now this is really interesting," said O'Neill. "Thor do you have any idea where we are?"

Space is big and planets are rare, inhabited planets are rarer and inhabited planets harboring intelligent life rarer still, it took several days before to locate a planet that supported a technologically advanced culture. At Sam's suggestion Thor took station near the planet and began to monitor communications.

"Just until we figure out what is going," on she said. "We don't want to provoke a fight by mistake."

To the astonishment of everyone onboard, including himself, Dr Jackson was able to understand the voice transmissions. The translations nanobots that Trance Gemini had implanted in him nearly a year ago were still functioning. The voice transmissions were in Common.

"Well," said Daniel "The good news is that we know where we are. The bad news is that we have no way to get home unless we can contact Captain Hunt. Anyone have any ideas on how to do that?"

"You mean besides showing up on that planets doorstep saying "Hello we're here from a parallel universe. We were chasing a bunch of galaxy destroying monsters and ended up here by accident. Could you direct us to the _Andromeda Ascendant_ so their chief engineer can send us home?"

Teal'c was the first with a suggestion. "General O'Neill, since the Andromeda is a military vessel, perhaps we should begin locating and monitoring military transmissions."

While it was fairly easy for Thor to isolate and begin monitoring military communications, decoding them was something else entirely. Eventually they succeeded and Daniel was able to translate for the others. The majority of the traffic concerned some place known as the Arzawa system.

After listening to Daniels running translation for a while. O'Neill turned to the others. "Folks I think they have a bug problem here."


	2. Interlude 1

**Interlude 1**

"Damn", thought staff sergeant Samuda, "here they come again." He checked to make sure his grenade was primed. "On my command people." A little closer. Now!" He threw his grenade at the oncoming carpet of bugs and hurled himself face down on the tarmac of the landing pad.

There were twelve detonations, after the last one he lifted himself up off the tarmac and began using his gauss rifle to pick off any surviving bugs. Twelve troops, that was all that was left of Dragon Company and he was the senior commanding officer.

Thirty-six hours ago Dragon Company had been 120 strong and his only concern had been trying to get Lancer Dow to drop her pants for him. Dragon Company had been assigned to guard the Voltarium mines on Arzawa III. Samuda had considered it the most boring assignment possible and had been trying for the past six months to get assigned to a combat post. He was now in a position to appreciate the irony of the old saying 'Be careful of what you wish for because you might get it'

The bugs showed arrived a little over a day ago there was no warning they were just there. They weren't really bugs; they were some sort of mechanical device that resembled an insect. But whatever they were there were a lot of them. They had swarmed over the mine and the computer center like a plague of locusts disabling the automated defenses and somehow jamming all off planet communications. The Company's F-lances had been totally ineffective against them, their plasma bolts dissipating harmlessly upon impact and their effector darts just bouncing off their carapaces, but the acid and claws of the bugs had proven all too effective against the Lancers. Over half the Company had died before they had discovered that a slug from a gauss gun would blow a bug to little pieces. Gauss guns and grenades, unfortunately the Company had very few grenades left. He was down to his last one and he doubted that anyone else was much better off.

The only bright spot in this fiasco was that an Argo two-man courier ship had made an emergency landing at the mines three days ago. If the LT could get his repairs done and make it to Arzawa II the High Guard would find out what happened. "He must be making some sort of progress" thought Samuda. "The bugs sure seemed to get interested in the ship all of a sudden."

"Ten more minutes Sarge. The Argo LT says if we can give him 10 more minutes he will be off planet." That was Dow; she had the communications link with the Argo. She sounded scared. Samuda didn't blame her; he was scared too. It wasn't the bugs that scared him though; it was the people commanding them. He called them people because he didn't know what else to call them but they definitely weren't human. He had been there when Brevet Major Ruisco had put half a dozen rounds from his gauss rifle into one of them. The high velocity slugs had torn large holes into the man but then the holes just healed up. It had been like watching a small boy throw stones into a river and had been just about as effective.

Ten more minutes. That's all they had to do, buy ten minutes of time. "What's the grenade situation Dow?"

"Scratch and White have two the rest of us are down to one each."

That was not what he wanted to hear.

Clakata. Clakata. Clakata. Another wave of bugs was coming.

From behind him he head singing. It was Dow. He recognized the song she was singing; he had learned it in boot camp. The March of the High Guard

"_Heaven burns, the stars are falling  
__As the enemy draws nigh."_

Her voice wavered at first but steadied as she began the second stanza.  
"_Sound the call, Fleet and Lancers  
_'_Commonwealth' our battle cry."_

The rest of the Company began to join in.  
"_Face the foe, never waver  
__Summon fire from the sky."_

"Grenades, on my command. Ready. Now!"  
"_From a million sovereign planets  
__Scattered through the endless night."_

Ten more minutes, we just have to hold on for ten more minutes.  
"_Bound by blood and High Guard honor  
__Hold the line until the light._

Just ten more minutes.  
_Hold the line against the night."_

Clakata. Clakata. Clakata.


	3. Change of Plans pt 1

**Change of plans pt 1**

Rommie was on the command deck of the _Andromeda Ascendant_ suppressing the urge to scream. The Castalian ambassador was berating her again.

"Why aren't my bags ready?" he shouted. "I distinctly remember telling you that I expected you to have my bags ready whenwe arrived at Scheherezade Drift. We've been in docking orbit for five minutes now and my luggage is not in the hanger bay."

The Andromeda had been tasked to transport the Castalian ambassador to the Scheherezade Drift to attend a conference being hosted by the Free Trade Alliance. Within minutes of his arrival it had become apparent that the ambassador disliked artificial intelligences and had a particular dislike for her. He had only been onboard for two days now but it had felt like two years.

"Mr. Ambassador at present all crewmembers are at docking stations are and far too busy to carry your luggage down to the hanger deck. When we have completed docking maneuvers and are safely in orbit I will see to it that your bags are transported."

"And what about your bots?" sneered the ambassador. "Are you going to tell me that they are too busy also?"

"Actually ambassador they are. If the Commonwealth had agreed to give us the extra crewmembers Captain Hunt had requested they would be available for you, but at present they are manning stations that would normally be manned by crewmembers." Undiplomatically she added, "If I remember correctly you were among those who voted against the extra crewmembers."

Her logic only increased the ambassador's anger. "You are a machine. Machines exist to serve living beings. I command you to have my bags taken to the hanger deck immediately."

Dylan had heard enough. "That's enough Mr. Ambassador. I will personally see to it that your luggage is taken to the hanger deck but for the moment I must ask you to leave the command deck. We are entering a critical phase of the docking maneuver and I can't afford to have my officers distracted." The last was a bold faced lie but he wanted to get the ambassador away form Rommie. She was livid with rage, her hands clinched and held tightly at her sides.

After the ambassador was gone, Dylan put his hands on Rommie's shoulders. "Don't let that jackass get to you Rommie. Some people are just stupidly prejudiced against AIs."

If she hadn't been so angry, Rommie would never have said what she said next, but anger had control of her at the moment. "You are not exactly free of prejudice yourself Captain"

"I don't understand Rommie. When have I ever showed any prejudice against you?"

"Not towards me. Towards other AIs. Do you remember Maggie, Jill, of the Pax Magellenica?"

"That was different Rommie. She had disobeyed a direct order from her captain to destroy herself rather than risk letting her fall into enemy hands. And then she attacked us."

"Only after you decided to erase her personality; to kill her. She was acting in self defense."

"The oath that Maggie, err Jill, took and regulations state that.."

"I know what the regulations are, and the oath too. I took the same oath remember?" Some of the anger was fading. She wanted him to understand, not get into an argument. "Dylan do you know that only AI's are required to swear not to be taken by the enemy? Yet there weapon experts and scientists who if they were taken prisoner by an enemy could reveal knowledge that would be at least as dangerous to the Commonwealth as a captured warship. Yet they do not have to swear not to be taken alive. And the regulations that give a commanding officer the right to summarily erase the personality of an AI who disobeys orders. Should an organic disobey an order or commit a crime regulations guarantee it a hearing and the opportunity to speak in its own defense yet AI's have no such rights." She took his hand between hers and held it for a moment. "Dylan I know that you and every member of the crew would die for me, as I would for them, but you have to admit that there is something wrong with the Commonwealth when not all of it's citizens have the same rights."

Their conversation was interrupted when Andromeda appeared in the main viewscreen. "Captain, we have a priority one communication from Scheherezade Drift."

"Put it on Andromeda"

Andromeda was replaced by the image of a Lancer major. She was clearly agitated. "Captain Hunt, a Guard courier ship has just arrived. Twelve standard days ago the mining site on Arzawa III was attacked by what was reported to be mechanical insects. These insects were apparently under control of one or more humans." The Major paused for a moment apparently to get her emotions under control then continued. "According to the courier we do not expect there were any survivors of the attack. I am downloading details of the attack including images of the insects and their controllers to your AI now."

The image on the screen changed again, to show what appeared to be a mechanical spider and two humans, a man and a woman. The man was a complete stranger to Dylan and Rommie but the woman was another matter. The woman in the image was an old friend of theirs, Major Samantha Carter of Stargate Command.


	4. Change of Plans pt 2

Dylan stepped to the nearest control console and pressed the shipwide address stud. "This is the Captain," he announced. "Secure docking stations and prepare for slipstream. Passengers please proceed with all possible speed to the hangar bay. Auxiliary Section Three offload passenger effects immediately."

Andromeda's corridors began to bustle with activity. Human crewmen dashed to their slipstream stations. Ship's androids moved rapidly toward the hangar bay towing antigrav platforms carrying huge piles of luggage, with protesting passengers hurrying behind. The Castilian ambassador waddled along in pursuit of his suitcases, sweating and complaining loudly with every step.

Beka watched the internal ship's cameras from her station at the helm. "That ambassador from Castilia is a real pain in the undercarriage, isn't he?" she asked the room, not really expecting an answer. "People like that always act like they're better than the rest of us, and yet they're supposed to be representing us. They're our employees! Where do they get off acting like that? Grrrr!"

Harper stood at his console and looked back at Beka. Normally he would have a wise comment to bring Beka down a notch or two, but seeing the fire in her eyes, he decided that discretion was the better part of valor and remembered his old Dad's sage advice - "Never miss a good chance to shut up." He turned back to his console and continued to study the information about the mechanical constructs.

Tyr also was studying the sparse information that was available. He would need to know everything about this enemy to be able to fight them effectively. The man and the woman did not look at all formidable. And Tyr had never met a mechanical spider that he couldn't smash with his foot. But he had to remind himself that these creatures had killed an entire Company of High Guard Lancers. The Lancers weren't Nietzcheans, but neither were they weaklings. These mechanical beings must have had immense strength and speed to overcome the Lancers. If these beings ever spread throughout the galaxy, they would be worse than the Magog and the Abyss combined.

Beka lifted her head from the internal camera display and spoke without looking at anyone on the bridge. "Passengers and cargo offloaded, shuttle away, hangar doors closing, all stations report readiness for slipstream." Her voice was terse and emotionless.

Everyone on the bridge turned to look at Beka. Dylan glanced at Trance and noticed she was staring at him, her eyes full of concern. Almost imperceptibly, she shook her head. _We can do nothing for her at the moment._ Trance had traded places through time with, well, with Trance, and now she was not the adorable cuddly little alien with a tail. She seemed to have matured in a way that observing a thousand years of pain and agony can mature a person. But she was still Trance, with all her special perceptions of emotions and nuances, and he trusted her judgment implicitly. He nodded back to her and spoke. "Very well, Beka, take us to slipstream, we're going to Arzawa III."

"Yes sir," responded Beka, initiating the slipstream event. _Andromeda Ascendant_ fairly leaped forward into the slipstream tunnel


	5. House Call

House call 

Jack O'Neill walked to the far end of the room and turned around in a smart about face. It was seventeen steps from one end to the other. He marched back toward the other end of the room where the rest were clustered around the Asgard communications receiver. He heard incomprehensible language from the speaker, like nothing he had heard other than some of the chatter from the Lancers during the fight with the Magog. He couldn't put his finger on what was wrong with it, but he didn't like the way it sounded. As he approached the communications console, he could discern a difference in the speech patterns. The people on both ends of the conversation sounded more excited. _They've got some real problems. They're in trouble, BIG trouble._ His military training brought him to a full state of alert. He stopped next to Daniel Jackson. "So, folks, what's happening?" he asked.

"Well," said Daniel, "Apparently there's some trouble on the planet. The Commonwealth has determined that the Replicators are a threat, and they've set up a military blockade of the planet. They're asking for additional ships from other Commonwealth planets, and the planet we're orbiting is going to send a ship too."

"What is this planet?" asked O'Neill

"This? Planet?" responded Daniel, confused. "Oh, you mean the name? The best I can translate it into English is either Wheel or Circle. Both words in Common mean the same in English, so it's hard to tell. I would guess the name is Wheel."

"When the ship leaves the planet, can we not follow it?" asked Teal'c of Thor.

"I have been scanning this region of space," answered Thor. "It appears that in this universe the civilizations have achieved interstellar travel by use of wormholes. The _Samantha Carter_ should be able to track a ship within a wormhole and follow it to its destination. For a ship as advanced as this, that will be simple."

Carter winced a little at the mention of her name attached to the ship, but she was getting used to it and had even begun to think of it with pride. Suddenly she noticed something moving on one of the auxiliary screens. Pointing at it, she addressed Thor. "Thor, it appears that a ship is leaving the planet's surface. We should get ready to follow it."

Thor turned his attention to the main viewscreen, which shifted to indicate warp and subspace conditions in the area. "Yes," he said, "There is a wormhole entrance forming. As soon as the ship begins to enter, we will enter hyperspace and begin following it."

As incomprehensible things started happening on the viewscreen, O'Neill couldn't help speaking up. "You know, the _Jack O'Neill_ could have done the same thing if you guys hadn't BLOWN IT UP!"

"Entering hyperspace," announced Thor, steering the ship into the hyperspace entrance.


	6. 24 hours

**24 Hours**

_Andromeda Ascendant_ emerged from slipstream high above the reddish-brown disk of Arzawa III. The planet's crust was rich with iron ore, which gave it a rust-colored appearance from space. Andromeda appeared on the viewscreen. "Admiral Hasturi is calling us," she reported.

"On screen," responded Dylan.

The screen cleared and the image of Admiral Hasturi appeared, his pristine blue uniform matching his piercing blue eyes. His close-cropped gray hair in the High Guard military style made him look like the quintessential warrior. As always, he looked dangerous. But today he looked frightened. Dylan had never seen that look attached to that face before, and it did not inspire calm.

"Captain Hunt," he began. "We're glad to have you here. We need you to set up a blockade position at the coordinates we're transmitting now. There is a significant new threat from these machine creatures. Apparently they were able to build a ship somehow and they used it to try to leave the planet. The High Guard blockade fired on their ship, but it had some sort of invisible shield that protected it from our missiles and beams. We've never seen anything like it. It had almost completely left the atmosphere, and only a determined attack by a squadron of _Centaur_ fighters finally shut down the shield and vaporized it. This ship was so small that we thought it would take only a single missile to destroy it, and instead it took everything we could throw at it and almost got past us and out into the galaxy." His voice dropped down to a lower register, and Dylan could see the beads of sweat on his forehead. "Dylan, whatever these things are, they scare the hell out of us. We can't allow them to escape from the planet and infest our worlds. As a last resort, if we can't destroy the next ship that takes off, you are authorized and encouraged to engage it with grapples and carry it down into the planet's crust at maximum acceleration. Think about it, Dylan. You're one of the most resourceful officers I know. If the Commonwealth can't come up with a plan to destroy these things, we're going to have to sterilize the planet with nova bombs and kill the half million inhabitants on the southern continent. I'm giving the same order to every commander and every officer on every Commonwealth blockade ship. Find an answer within twenty-four hours, or I will destroy Arzawa III. Hasturi out."

The Andromeda bridge crew stood motionless, staring at the fading viewscreen image. Finally Harper said "Whoa!" and the spell was broken. They looked at each other, trying to understand how they could destroy five hundred thousand fellow Commonwealth citizens and yet understanding completely that they would have to kill them all in the worst-case scenario.

"All right, people," said Dylan. "Let's see if we can figure out how to kill these things."


	7. We Come in Peace

**We Come in Peace**

The _Samantha Carter_ flashed through the wormhole, tracking and following the little ship that had lifted off from planet Wheel. At the point of wormhole entry, the communications traffic had ceased and eerie silence reigned where lively chatter had existed before. O'Neill looked curiously at the communications panel.

So...why aren't we hearing anything on the other radio?" asked O'Neill.

Thor looked at the second communicator in the panel. Its pilot lights glowed with readiness but it was as silent as the first communicator.

"Apparently this universe has no equivalent to our hyperspace communicator," said Thor. "I believe they are using small scout ships as communications couriers. The ship we are tracking may be just such a courier, due to its small size."

Sam had been watching the screens as the small ship swung back and forth within the wormhole. Suddenly the continuous wormhole displayed a rapidly approaching end, opening up trumpet-fashion into space. "Thor," said Carter, "Something's happening here.

"_What it is, ain't exactly clear,_ hummed O'Neill, not quite to himself.

Thor's slender hands moved surprisingly rapidly over the controls, and the ship emerged from hyperspace within visual distance of the little courier. But there was much more of interest within viewing range. The humans gazed across the viewscreen in awe, taking in the array of ships in orbit, stretching from horizon to horizon around the planet. One of the larger ships broke formation and approached them. The short-range communicator came to life.

"This is Commander Coleman of the Attack Ship _Mistral Dawn_. Arriving ships identify yourselves."

Daniel Jackson translated the language for the rest. But before he could respond to Coleman, a different voice spoke from the communicator. "This is Systems Courier Ship _Thistledown Messenger_ out of Wheel City, Lieutenant Trask and Ensign Sikes on board, reporting for duty, sir."

"Very well, Lieutenant," responded Coleman. "Report to the _Siege Perilous_, forty-two degrees farther around the orbit. Second ship, your configuration is unfamiliar to me. Identify yourself."

The humans and Teal'c stood in a small group around Thor's command chair as he manipulated the control board. Suddenly the viewscreen cleared and displayed the picture of a Commonwealth officer in High Guard uniform. His eyes widened slightly as the picture of the little group appeared on his own viewscreen.

"This is Doctor Daniel Jackson of the Asgard ship _Samantha Carter_," said Daniel. " On board are General Jack O'Neill, Colonel Samantha Carter, Teal'c, and Commander Thor, the Captain of this ship. We have come here by accident, but we bring a warning of a very dangerous enemy who has preceded us."

While Daniel spoke, Commander Coleman had been manipulating some controls off screen, and now he was apparently comparing an off screen image with what he saw on his main viewscreen. "Please excuse me for a moment," he said, as his image disappeared from the screen. The communications console came back to life, but with low fidelity audio only, obviously on a different channel.

"This is Coleman of the _Mistral Dawn_. Code Orange, I repeat, I am declaring a Code Orange. Possible hostile force, need urgent assistance."

Thor reached over and toggled a control. A graphic representation of a force field surrounded the ship's display on the systems status panel. Coleman's voice came again.

"They've just initiated the same kind of energy barrier that the machine ship had before we destroyed it. Also, one of the passengers looks exactly like the female human who was controlling the machines on the planet's surface. Approach with caution."

"Uh-oh," said O'Neill, hearing Daniel's translation. "This CAN'T be good."

The tactical display showed several of the larger ships breaking orbit and approaching the area. The viewscreen snapped back on, displaying Coleman's image. "Doctor Jackson," he said, "You will shut down your ship's energy barrier and allow us to board and inspect your vessel. Failure to do so will result in your destruction. Do you understand?"

"I believe there's been a misunderstanding," responded Daniel. "Is Captain Dylan Hunt here with you? Because he knows us very well."

"One moment," said Coleman, deactivating the viewscreen again. The communicator audio came to life on the low-fi channel again.

"_Mistral Dawn_ to _Andromeda Ascendant_ on Tactical Channel Beta. Captain Hunt, one of the occupants of the alien ship says his name is Daniel Jackson and that he knows you. Is this true?"

"_Andromeda_ to _Mistral_," came the familiar voice of Dylan Hunt. "Joshua, if Daniel is with that group, then they are our friends. I will come to your location and assess the situation."

"Understood, Dylan," said Coleman. "_Mistral Dawn_ to fleet, stand down Code Orange to Code Yellow. Return to patrol locations. Coleman out."

The viewscreen came back to life. "Doctor Jackson," said Coleman, "Captain Hunt is indeed present, and he will be here momentarily. On behalf of the Commonwealth and the High Guard, I welcome you into orbit of Arzawa III."

"Well that certainly took a turn for the better," said O'Neill. "These guys don't screw around. I LIKE that!"

Thor deactivated the shields and watched as the sleek form of the _Andromeda_ approached.


	8. Hail and Well Met

**Hail and Well Met**

Shortly afterwards there was a thumping sound and the _Samantha Carter_ vibrated gently. One of the _Andromeda Ascendant's_ small craft had arrived. O'Neill heard footsteps approaching, quite a few footsteps; it seemed that the Commonwealth was sending more than just their friends over. A moment later the Commonwealth troops arrived in the _Samantha Carter's_ control center. In addition to Captain Hunt and his staff, there was a squad of Lancers with weapons at the ready. Several of them were casting decidedly nervous looks at Thor and Lt Colonel Carter.

"I wish I could be giving you a friendlier greeting Colonel O'Neill," said Captain Hunt. The tone of voice was pleasant enough but there was nothing pleasant about the gauss rifle he was pointing at O'Neill, nor the look in his eyes. "But if you have been monitoring our transmissions you undoubtedly understand the reasons"

"I'd do the same if our positions were reversed Captain, said Jack, "and it's general now."

"Really, congratulations. We can have a wetting down later but for now, Trance will you do the honors and insure that our visitors are really who they say they are."

The woman who stepped forward resembled the Trance Gemini that O'Neill knew but it was only a resemblance. The Trance he knew had been barely out of girlhood, was blonde, purple skinned and had a tail. This Trance was older, with red tresses, and golden hued skin. She was also tailless. Some sort of device was in her hand; she was apparently studying some sort of readout from it.

She approached Daniel and he instinctively stepped forward only to come to a quick halt as the Lancers leveled their weapons. Trance held the device against his neck and he felt a slight pricking sensation where the device touched him.

"I'll explain later Daniel," she whispered in his ear. "I look different but it is still me."

Then to the observing members of _Andromeda's_ crew she added. "The DNA is an exact match for Dr Jackson."

Daniel flushed slightly. He knew how Trance had obtained the samples. She had obtained them when the Andromeda had "accidentally" been moved though it's home universe to his universe. The sampling procedure had entailed extensive skin on skin contact, and had been repeated on numerous occasions

Trance proceeded with the DNA analysis of the other members of the Stargate team simply pronouncing them to be 'human'. When she came to Thor she paused apparently having trouble understanding the readings but eventually deciding on 'organic'.

With the SG-1 team given a clean bill of health, preparations were made for a rendezvous on the _Siege Perilous._


	9. Interlude 2

**Interlude 2**

_The mob was getting closer and she was totally lost. She had no idea which way to run._

Everything in her life had been fine until the courier ship from Arzawa III had arrived bringing word of the invasion. Initially there had only been people standing around talking when they should have been at work, then rioting and looting. At first it had been localized and it seemed that the Home Guard would be able to contain the problem but then the word got out that a High Guard ship carrying a nova bomb had arrived on scene. Rumors had started spreading faster than news. The High Guard was going to drop a nova bomb into the sun and the entire solar system was going to be destroyed, the High Guard was planning to use the nova bomb on Arzawa III; the resultant explosion would destroy Arzawa III but the resultant rain of asteroids would destroy Arzawa II. The city exploded in an orgy of rioting and looting. What the rioters and the looters couldn't smash or steal they had set afire. It seemed that half the city was afire. The smoke was so thick it made dimmed the sun making noon look like late evening. The Home Guard had been overwhelmed, some had fled, others had died trying to stop the rioters and some had even discarded their uniforms and joined in the destruction.

_There was an alley off to her left, she ran into it. Why did they want to hurt her? She was nothing but an android working as a receptionist at a buckycable manufacturing plant. All she did was answer the com lines, greet people and look pretty. It was rare when she even left the factory; it was her home as well as her place of employment._

Mr. Tomatsu, one of the plant foremen, had told her and all the other bots to stay inside the plant until the trouble blew over. She liked Mr. Tomatsu; he always looked at her and the other androids when he talked to them, called them by their names instead of 'you' or 'bot' and always said 'please' and 'thank you'. She had even taken some of the money she had been saving up for her emancipation fee to have some modifications made to her torso so she could show him just how much she liked him. She hadn't yet worked up the nerve to approach him but she was planning to. He was single and good looking and if she could get him to like her enough maybe he would be willing to take her as a contract mate. Things should have gotten better after the rioters had burned everything that could be burned and stolen everything worth stealing but instead things got worse much worse. Someone in the High Guard had sent word down to what was left of the Home Guard to beware of rogue AI's. Apparently one or more AI's was leading the invasion of Arzawa III. Of course the word leaked out from the Home Guard and the rioters now had a new target.

_By all the Gods in all the heavens NO! The alley was a dead end; she was going to have to retrace her steps._

Mr. Tomatsu had stayed in the factory with them. He had told them that as far as he was concerned that as long as they worked for him, he was not going to abandon them. All electric power had been lost days ago so the air conditioning system was off. The smoke from the fires and gotten even thicker and the wind had changed direction bringing the smoke into the plant. Of course the smoke didn't bother her or any of the other AIs but it did bother Mr. Tomatsu quite a bit. She had just left the main floor of the factory, heading to the infirmary to look for something she could fashion into a filter so Mr. Tomatsu would not be coughing so much, when the mob broke into the plant. There were dozens of them, some armed with wrecking bars, others with mauls and some even had those horrid electric dart guns, the type that could overload a bots circuitry paralyzing it but still allowing its pain circuits to function. From her vantage point in the doorway to the plant floor, she could see Mr. Tomatsu talking to them, apparently trying to persuade them that the frightened androids were not a threat nor were they planning any sort of revolt, when one of the members of the mob struck him down. Too frightened to move she watched as some of her fellow bots leapt to his defense. They were actually able to do some damage before they were brought down by the dart guns. There was another exit from the factory near where she was, when the mob moved in on her friends with their wrecking bars she ran to the exit, and into another small segment of the mob. The mob was even more surprised than she was and she was able to get past them before they were able to raise the hue and cry and begin the pursuit. Since her awakening she had never strayed more than a few blocks from the factory in no time at all she was totally lost

_The mob was getting closer and she had nowhere to run._


	10. Explanations

**Explanations**

After a short period of introductions and discussion, Thor followed the _Thistledown Messenger_ over to the _Siege Perilous_, which turned out to be a little smaller than the _Andromeda Ascendant_ but with the same general curvaceous lines characteristic of all High Guard ships. Thor transported SG-1 to the indicated coordinates on _Siege Perilous_ and attended himself via projected hologram. The crew of _Andromeda_ was also in attendance, having shuttled over in the _Eureka Maru_. One of the first problems to be addressed was the inability of SG-1 members (except for Daniel) to understand the Commonwealth language. After a period of about an hour to convince O'Neill that nanobots were really harmless, the members of SG-1 were all injected with language translation nanobots and they began their training period. And in the meantime, the discussion turned to Replicators and how to dispose of them.

"So what exactly is a Replicator?" asked Fleet Admiral Tanaka. "And how do we kill them?"

"A Replicator," said Thor (through Daniel's translation) "Is a mechanical being made up of metallic building blocks, much the same as an animal is composed of organic cells. Here is a representation of one of the building blocks."

A three-dimensional rotating building block appeared next to Thor's image.

"When several of these building blocks are in close proximity," continued Thor, "They can combine and build more blocks. This process of replication is what gave the Replicators their name."

The building block became smaller and several others were shown in the vicinity. They drew together and began moving as one unit, gathering materials, and forging an additional block.

"Once a sufficient number of blocks have merged," said Thor, "They form a single basic Replicator, like this."

The scene speeded up as hundreds of blocks were added and arranged, and finally a six-legged insectoid Replicator was shown, with moving legs and wings.

"From what we have seen of Replicator construction," continued Thor, "Once there are sufficient Replicators in place, they combine and form what we call a 'Queen' Replicator. The Queen is supplied with material, which she uses to construct Replicators. Once the Queen has constructed enough Replicators, they all combine into a 'Super Queen', which then begins to construct other Queens. These Queens spread out into new areas of the planet and begin constructing more Replicators, and the process continues. Recently the Replicators have learned to create very small building blocks the size of living cells that can be combined in the billions into what is visually indistinguishable from a living creature. You have seen two of those creatures on the planet below."

The scene showed a Samantha Carter clone standing next to an apparent human male.

"The purpose of a Replicator," explained Thor, "Is to make more Replicators. To that end, they will kill organic life forms and devastate entire planets. My race has been fighting them for hundreds of years. So far, in this universe, they have infested only this single planet below us. If we are to save your universe, we must exterminate them here before they spread elsewhere. So far, the only way we know to destroy Replicators is to burn them up in atmospheric reentry. They appear to be totally immune to energy weapons. Breaking them apart with projectile weapons is only a temporary measure, since the individual building blocks are able to recombine almost immediately."

"What if they couldn't recombine?" asked Harper.

"They can always recombine," answered Thor. "They have an attractant force between them that tends to draw the individual blocks together and re-form the Replicator."

"No, I don't mean that," responded Harper. "Don't the individual blocks have be in electrical contact with each other to form the Replicator?"

"Yes they do," said Thor. "But I do not understand your line of reasoning."

"The High Guard uses a liquid called Shorinol as a coolant in electrical transformers," said Harper. "It is an excellent electrical insulator. Suppose a Replicator was placed in a tank of Shorinol and hit with a projectile weapon. The individual building blocks wouldn't be able to recombine with each other because they couldn't make electrical contact."

"But we can't place each Replicator into a tank of Shorinol," responded Thor.

"Paintball," said O'Neill.

"Indeed," agreed Teal'c.

"What is 'paintball'?" asked Admiral Tanaka.

"Paintball," explained Carter, "Is a game played on Earth. It involves a gun fired with compressed air or carbon dioxide that shoots balls of paint surrounded by fragile shells. When the ball hits anything solid, the shell breaks open and the paint sprays out. If we could fill the shell with Shorinol instead of paint, then we could cover the Replicator with the insulating liquid and then blow it apart with projectiles. The pieces that were left wouldn't be able to recombine. The Replicator would be reduced to a pile of individual building blocks."

"Well that would be find for individual Replicators," answered Admiral Tanaka, "But by now we have a whole planet full of them down there. We don't have as many warriors as it would take to shoot every single Replicator twice."

"We will not have to," replied Thor. "The _Samantha Carter_ is equipped with a device that should destroy all Replicators on the planet's surface. But it will not penetrate more than a meter or two below the surface of the planet. We can make several orbits and irradiate the surface of the planet, but we will have to send down teams to destroy the sub-surface colonies."

"That sounds good," said Admiral Tanaka, "But I won't send drop ships to the planet's surface. There's too much risk that one of those things might get on board and find its way back to other planets."

"There will be no need for your drop ships to land," said Thor. "I can deploy your troops to the planet's surface and retrieve them using the Asgard transportation device. They can be scanned on retrieval to ensure that no Replicator blocks are present."

"Very well," said Admiral Tanaka. "Assignments are as follows. Harper, construct Shorinol paintball guns. O'Neill, assemble a group of paintball warriors teamed with projectile weapon warriors to search underground, and lead the attack mission. Coleman, coordinate personnel to assemble a strike force. Thor, begin irradiation of the planet with your anti-Replicator weapon to ensure the safety of arriving warriors, and stand by with your transportation device."

"Admiral, a suggestion," offered Teal'c.

"Go ahead," said Tanaka.

"When designing the paintball guns, why not alternate one Shorinol paintball with one solid projectile?" said Teal'c. "That way each warrior would be able to kill a Replicator instead of waiting for another warrior to shoot the opposite ammunition."

"An excellent idea, Teal'c," said Tanaka. "Harper, you have your orders."

"No problem, Boss," replied Harper. "I mean, Admiral Boss. I'll send the weapon design to one of the Combat Support Ships and let them start building. It should take about a day or so before they make as many of these weapons as we need. And we should call this the Harper Gun."

The image of Thor touched something on his control panel and Harper vanished in a flash of light.


	11. A New Assignment

**A New Assignment**

Tanaka turned to Dylan. "The arrival of your friends changes the dynamics of the situation. I have a different task for you now and I am afraid that in some ways it is going to be even more difficult then the one below us."

"What task is that Admiral"?

"Arzawa II. With the news, and rumors, of what has been going on here, the planet has slipped into total anarchy. We estimate that planet wide; so far over a million people have died in the chaos. Water, power and food distribution have all been completely disrupted and significant portions of most major cities have been burnt to the ground. If order isn't restored soon we will have a second Brandenburg-Tor on our hands. The drop ship carriers _Victory's Crucible_ and _Indomitable_ will be arranging on station in a few hours. I will direct each of them to release a company along with their integrated drop ships and light armored vehicles to your command. You will use these assets along with the _Andromeda's_ Lancer unit to restore order on the planet. I'm sorry I can't give you more but the troops are needed more urgently on Arzawa III "

Dylan did a quick calculation in his head. "Sir you're asking me to take approximately 400 troops and some armor and occupy an entire planet. It can't be done."

"I'm not asking you to conquer the planet Dylan. Just to keep them from continuing to kill each other and restore enough basic services to keep starvation and disease at bay. I doubt that you and your troops will even see much fighting. The reports we have received indicate that what little resistance you may encounter will be from the criminal gangs that are taking advantage of the situation. If a single Lancer can't defeat a dozen criminals he or she shouldn't be in the Lancers. As soon as we defeat the Replicators, we can send more troops and humanitarian assistance but until then you're it."

The talk became a discussion of tactics and equipment needed to carry out the assignment.

A radio crackled to life.

"This is Staff Sergeant Samuda on the surface of Arzawa III. If anyone can receive this message, there are three High Guard troops needing urgent transport off the planet's surface. We are being pursued by alien mechanical constructs and request immediate evacuation."

Tanaka looked at Thor's projected image. "Can you help?" he asked.

"Help is on the way," responded Thor.

**Interlude Three**

Samuda blew on his hands trying to bring some warmth to them. Somewhere along the line during the fight with the bugs he had lost his gloves and it was now a constant effort to keep his fingers from becoming frostbitten. He made a promise to himself that if he somehow got out of this mess alive his next posting was going to be somewhere were the temperature never dropped below 30 C. However right now his immediate goal was to get the remnants of Dragon Company to what the company used to call Fire Base Intoxication. If his memory was correct and he wasn't lost they should be less than an hour's walk from it. He silently prayed that he wasn't lost. They had been traveling for ten days now and were exhausted. If they were lost they would probably die out here before they found the Lodge.

By the time the Argo courier had lifted off Dragon Company was down to three members, Dow, Sergeant Haulder and him. As soon as the courier's antigrav drive had engaged and the ship was airborne they all went running for the relative safety of the hills north of the encampment. Fortunately the bugs had not perused them aggressively since only Haulder was unwounded. Dow had been sprayed in the face with bug juice, the jet of acid had hit her helmets cheek guard and by sheer bad luck some of the resultant spray had gone under her visor and into her right eye blinding it. Another bug had taken a chunk out of his lower leg, a big chunk.

Once they had broken free of the bugs, Samuda had made the decision to head for the Company's hunting lodge affectionately named Fire Base Intoxication. The company had built it using their recreation funds and their sweat. It was a place where a Lancer on leave could go to drink till he puked, fornicate like a dog in heat and of course hunt the game that roamed the wilds of Arzawa III. At he moment though the important thing about the lodge was that it had a high power radio. Unfortunately the lodge was over 180 kilometers from their present location. One hundred eighty kilometers for a trio of healthy Lancers would have been a strenuous five or six day hike but when two of the trio were half crippled and they had to avoid prowling bugs it promised to be a long trip.

The first night out nearly killed them all. It wasn't the bugs that became their enemy it was the cold. Arzawa III was in the outer edge of its suns habitability zone, which meant the planet had two types of weather cold and colder. Temperatures near the equator while chilly were reasonable. Dragon Company however had been stationed well north of the equator. A balmy summer day in Dragon Land, as the company called it, was about 5 C, at night the temperature dropped to below zero. If the planet had enough water for glaciers the entire world would probably be under ice but as it was water was a rare commodity on Arzawa III. Samuda had never though of deserts as being cold but cold desert was an excellent description of the planet. When the bugs arrived Samuda and the others had been too busy putting on battle armor and trying to survive to worry about acquiring cold weather gear and while Lancer winter utilities were reasonably warm they were not designed for extended wear in sub zero temperatures. As close as they were to the bugs they didn't dare light a fire for fear it would attract them. All they could do was huddle together for warmth. The irony of the situation didn't fail to escape him. Both Haulder and Dow were attractive women; a few days ago the idea of having them both pressing their bodies up against his would have sounded like an erotic fantasy, now that they were, the only interest he had in their bodies was the amount of heat they generated.

By the end of the second day Samuda was feeling optimistic that they might live to make it to the lodge. The bugs didn't seem to be perusing and they now had food and clothing of sorts. Earlier that morning they had stumbled on a herd of the large deer like animals known as killdeer grazing on the some of the ubiquitous lichen that formed the base of the planetary food chain and had managed to kill two of them using their gauss rifles. Killdeer weren't really deer; for one thing they had claws and fangs, there were very few true herbivores or carnivores on the planet; food was scarce enough that most animals had evolved as omnivores, but they were nourishment and they had nice warm furry pelts.

An F-lance is a versatile device; it can be used as a weapon, a light source and as a cutting tool. None of them knew anything about butchering animals but necessity can be a very inspiring teacher. The job was messy all three of them were quickly covered in blood and gore and the animals' entrails smelled bad enough to make a person nauseous but eventually they had meat and fur ponchos. They even had managed to cobble together a couple of crude backpacks they could use to carry extra food. For a change the cold was working to their advantage it would help preserve both the meat and the hides until they made it to the lodge.

The lodge was where Samuda had remembered it to be and it was bug free. He sent Dow to see about getting the power system up and running, the fuel cells that provided power to the lodge were virtually inexhaustible but did require maintenance and were secured when the lodge was not in use, and sent Haulder to scout the area. While they were doing that he checked out the radio. It wasn't designed for planet-to-planet communications but it was powerful enough to reach just about anywhere on the planet which he hoped would be enough. If the Argo ship had made had made good its escape Arzawa III would be now be ringed with High Guard ships that would be monitoring communications channels. He had no way of knowing if the bugs were still jamming or if they were if the radio could punch through but he did know that if this didn't work they were all going to die. If the bugs didn't get them starvation would. With a hum and a click the lights came on and the heaters started up. Dow had gotten the power system started; at least if they were going to die they could die warm.

It was time to call for help. If the radio could penetrate the jamming life would be good, if it couldn't penetrate things would be grim and if the bugs had monitoring equipment things would get very grim. He took the first stint on the radio sending out the call, waiting two minutes for a reply then repeating the call. An hour later he learned two new things about the bugs, they could monitor radio communication and that they took the term flying squad to an entire new level. The incoming bugs were flying.

Samuda ordered Dow to switch places with him. Dow was right handed and with her right eye blinded, her chances of hitting anything with her gauss rifle were slim. He slipped his poncho on and ordered the others to do the same. The fur and hide might give a little more protection against the bugs' acid.

"Keep calling until I give the order to bag it"

There was a slight chance that the Guard had heard their messages and had sent help but was not replying for fear the message might be intercepted. He began to pick of incoming bugs. Holes began to appear in the walls of the lodge as the bugs began to burn their way in. More holes began to appear in the roof and the first bug entered and scuttled towards Dow. Haulder took it out with a single shot but by then two more bugs had gotten in. Samuda opened his mouth to tell the others it was time to go when…..they were standing on the deck of an Argosy warship. Immediately before them was a Fleet Admiral.

Tired, smelly, covered in gore and wearing rotting hides for armor, they were nonetheless Lancers and automatically came to attention. Samuda had no idea how he had been rescued but there was an Admiral in front of him and that he could deal with. As he came to attention he snapped off a salute and reported "Dragon Company reporting for duty SIR!


	12. Strategy Session one

**Strategy Session One **

At ease!" barked Admiral Tanaka.

The three Lancers snapped into a High Guard parade rest stance, Staff Sergeant Samuda wincing as he stretched the lacerated muscle of his injured leg. Their eyes widened in surprise when they saw Thor appear holographically in his command chair, but they were too well trained to react with more than that. Tanaka pulled out his communicator.

"Medical team to the command conference room, two injured personnel," he said, snapping the device closed. It emitted a soft tone and he snapped it back open again. "Tanaka here."

"Admiral, this is Seamus Harper aboard the _Forge Victorious_. We have 100 gauss rifles modified to fire Shorinol ammunition. The final tests look good. We are ready to transport them back to you."

Thor had been peering intently into the air before him and manipulating the control panel at his fingertips. Suddenly the air flashed and Harper appeared, along with racks full of lethal-looking long guns.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Harper, staggering backward. "I'll never get used to THAT!"

Over the next few hours, the ground teams were transported to the _Siege Perilous_. From all over the fleet came clothing and supplies and detection gear and communications devices. Thor had transported a Commonwealth military clerk to the _Samantha Carter_ to assist with communications and procurement. The language translation nanobots were beginning to take effect in all SG-1 team members, but Thor still needed help with some terms and concepts. Finally all was in readiness.

One hundred warriors stood in loose formation in the staging area of the High Guard Atmospheric Attack Carrier _Siege Perilous_. All were equipped with cold weather clothing, communications, food and water, a med-kit, and a special gauss rifle with many spare rounds of ammunition. They had all been trained in its use and had fired at simulated Replicators in the ship's firing range. Harper insisted there was a special cadence to be followed during firing - first the Shorinol "paintball" round, then a pause of one second, THEN the projectile. The Shorinol, a thin fluid, would nevertheless need some time to spread fully in the cold atmosphere below. O'Neill suspected that once the fighting began in earnest there would be no hesitation between rounds, but he refrained from saying that out loud to keep from striking fear into the hearts of some of the younger warriors. Once the warriors had completed adjusting their gear, O'Neill stepped forward to address them.

"All right, listen up," he said, using the same bored yet authoritative voice that was used to begin every military briefing since military troops came into existence. "We've been over this several times, so I'll just do a brief recap and then we can get started. Thor handles all transportation to and from the planet's surface. Anyone transporting back up from the surface goes into the quarantine area, which is that big plastic swimming pool over there. You'll remove ALL your clothing, no exceptions, and be examined by a doctor. Then you will exit the pool and put on those spare uniforms over there while your clothing is scanned for any spare Replicator parts that might have fallen into your pockets. If anyone has a problem getting naked in front of other people, speak up now."

O'Neill scanned the group, but no one was inclined to say anything. The Lancers had no taboos over nudity. Neither did the members of SG-1, except possibly for O'Neill himself. And Harper was eager to see whatever female skin he might see.

"Once we get down to the planet, there should be no live Replicators on the surface," continued O'Neill, "Since Thor will have killed them all. We've mapped out four areas of intense electrical activity that we believe are underground caverns full of Replicators. Since our Replicator Death Ray won't work through more than a few feet of ground, we will have to enter the caverns ourselves and clean out the Replicators by hand. And once all the Replicators are in little pieces, then the cleanup crews will come down and collect all the pieces for disposal. That won't be our problem - by that time we will be back on board here. Now I understand Thor has something to say."

"Yes, O'Neill," said Thor. "We need to test the 'Replicator Death Ray,' as you put it, to determine its range. Since it is harmless to humans, I suggest we place a team on the ground near a group of Replicators and test the device from various altitudes to determine its optimum range. We need observers on the ground to report when the Replicators are destroyed."

"Okay. Good." said O'Neill, but without much conviction. "Do I have any volunteers?"

Before the other warriors could move, Teal'c and Tyr stepped forward to stand directly in front of O'Neill. Teal'c had uncharacteristically abandoned his staff weapon and looked uncomfortable carrying the gauss rifle, which looked small in his massive hands.

Harper edged in to stand beside Tyr. "I have to make sure the rifles work they way they should," he said.

"I'll go, sir," said Carter. She took a position next to Teal'c, looking highly dangerous and determined.

"Then that's it," said O'Neill. "Good luck and...keep in touch, kids."

The team vanished in a brilliant flash of light, as did Thor's image.

**Strategy Session Two**

When Dylan read the situation reports on Arzawa II he realized that the Admiral had been correct in his assessment of the situation and he had been wrong. Which he thought wryly might explain why Tanaka was a Fleet Admiral and he was a Captain.

Arzawa II was an island world there were no major continents just a multitude of islands and archipelagos. The largest island on the entire planet had an area of only about 100,000 square kilometers. It was named unimaginatively enough Prime. The vast majority of the planet's 120 million inhabitants lived in small communities where they earned a living as fishermen and farmers and were largely self-sufficient. In fact there were only four cities on all of Arzawa II that boasted a population of more than 1,000,000. With little axial tilt and lying close to the inner habitability zone of its primary, the planet's climate was tropical all year round. Dylan decided he would concentrate his efforts on the four major cities.

Four cities and four companies of troops; that simplified things. Of the cities only two of them really concerned him, the capital which had been named Prime City, unimaginative lot these Arzawan's, and Hidalgo located near what had once been a High Guard shore station, and later the headquarters for the planetary Home Guard. If there were heavy weapons to be found in the hands of unfriendlies it would be there. He decided that he would lead the capital force and Second Signifer Tran would led the force to secure Hidalgo. Technically Tran might be too junior to be put in charge of such an operation but he knew Tran; he was capable of the job and he didn't know the qualities of the men from the other two ships. Besides he could always argue that promotions were slow on the _Andromeda. _After all he had been a captain for over 300 years now.

To Dylan's dismay Tanaka did not release any heavy armor but after Dylan made several promises he knew he would later regret, the fleet admiral did agree to let him have some Gremlin general-purpose carriers and more importantly he released a squadron of _Phoenix_ atmospheric attack craft.

Gremlins were open topped antigrav vehicles designed to carry troops or equipment. Their armor was sufficient to stop most small arms fire and they were equipped with three swivel mounted 14mm rapid fire gauss guns. Their biggest weakness was their open top. Most units had been modified by adding extension poles to the troop compartment and placing a roof of fullerene armor over the poles. It looked odd but was surprisingly effective. Dylan was not very found of Gremlins they were too lightly armed and armored for his taste but he was forced to admit the _Ung Tae_ drop ships were not really appropriate for urban combat. They were too big and their AP guns were frankly too dangerous. Matter antimatter interactions produced spectacular explosions but they also released gamma rays, LOTS of gamma rays. In a crowded urban environment a blast from an AP gun would not only destroy its intended target but also give any unprotected civilian within a blocks radius of the target a potentially lethal dose of radiation poisoning. He also decided to give Signifer Tran _Andromeda's_ two planetary warfare robots affectionately called Tweedledum and Tweedledee. If Tran ran into anything that couldn't be handled by his dropships, the Tweedles, and air support from the _Phoenixes_ it probably couldn't be handled by anything Dylan would have on planet.

As an afterthought he decided to have each of the Gremlins tow a trailer. He would load the trailers up with Lancer emergency field rations. He wouldn't be able to feed everyone of course but a few tons of food could make a big difference to civilian morale. Lancer emergency field rations were called flat-rats because they came in the shape of flat bars. They looked and tasted like compressed wood shavings but a single bar contained enough calories and nutrients to support a Lancer's nutritional needs for a day. More importantly they needed no refrigeration. A package of 10 bars could support a civilian family of four for days.

With logistics and troop assignments completed as best as they were going to get it was time to go planetside.


	13. Interlude 4

**Interlude Four**

Dr. Jackson's was onboard the _Andromeda_ sitting with Trance in the Hydroponics bay. Official he had accompanied the _Andromeda_ crew back to the their ship to help plan the relief effort but in reality he was there because of Trance. Since encountering the _Andromeda_ his emotions had gone on a roller coaster ride. It had been nearly a year since he and Trance had said farewell and when he had realized he was going to see her again he had to control the urge to shout but now that he and his lover were face to face he didn't know just what to think. Instead of his beloved purple pixie the woman before him was golden in color with red rather than blonde hair. However it wasn't the change in her physical appearance that was bothering him, as unsettling as that was, it was the look in her eyes that unsettled him. The Trace he had known was a living ray of sunshine, always bubbling with enthusiasm and able to brighten a room with her sheer enthusiasm about life. This Trance was somber, almost melancholy and just a little distant. Dr Jackson had seen the same look in the eyes of some of General O'Neill's friends. The ones who had seen too much combat and witnessed the deaths of too many friends. Her Tranceness was still there, he could feel it, but something had happened to her, something bad.

Trance had seen the look of confusion and loss on Daniel's face. It hurt to see him looking at her in that way. She wished she could have stayed they way she had been when they first met but fate had had other plans. She was going to have to explain the best she could and hope he could understand that she was still Trance and she still loved him with all her heart.

When General O'Neill had commented upon her change of appearance she had dodged the issue with a lie. Telling him that when her species achieved sexual maturity they changed color. The expression on his face had been priceless as he turned to Daniel saying, 'Daniel when we get back to SGC you are in big big trouble.'

The lie may have been sufficient for the other SG-1 members but Daniel deserved the truth. She had led him to the hydroponics bay. The flametree was in bloom its fragrance filling the bay with a sweet faintly cinnamon smell. They had made love under the same tree some months ago and she was hoping that the memories of their lovemaking would help her explain. There was a bench at the base the tree she sat and pulled him down beside her. It was difficult to explain what had happened, neither Common nor the English language had the concepts she needed. Daniel was a scientist; saying that she had traded places with another of her selves had raised even more questions in his mind. In the end it wasn't her words that eased his mind but the love they had for one another. They were two halves of a whole and nothing could change that.

When Dylan came looking for them sometime later, he found them still sitting on the bench holding hands and chatting away like nothing had happened and they had only been separated for a few days. He hadn't been quite sure what he would find after Andromeda had told him the two lovebirds were in the hydroponics bay. He was pleased but somewhat surprised to find them fully dressed. He knew what he would have in mind if he had a lover and had been separated from her as long as Dr Jackson had been from Trance.

He cleared his throat. "Ahem. Sorry to break this up but Dr Jackson, Trance will you both please go down to the landing force gear issue room and draw what equipment you will need for a planet side expedition. _Victory's Crucible_ and _Indomitable_ have arrived.

The two left and Dylan started after them as he was walking towards the exit hatch he passed the basketball court. On a whim he picked up one of the basketballs that were lying against the bulkhead and took a shot. Nothing but net. He hoped that was a good omen.


	14. Field Test One

**Field Test One**

Tyr, Teal'c, Carter, and Harper materialized smoothly on the surface of Arzawa III and each drew in a lungful of the frigid air. Teal'c and Tyr, neither wanting to show weakness, began scanning the area for movement as though they were in comfortable surroundings. Carter shook her head, looked up to see if it was snowing, then gritted her teeth and started searching for Replicators.

Harper said, "I just remembered. We didn't test the Shorinol bullets at temperatures quite this low. Heh heh."

Teal'c turned to look, his mouth drawn down in maximum scowl. "Will not the passage of the bullet through the rifle barrel heat up the liquid?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah it should heat it up enough. Yeah." said Harper, with a tone of uncertainty. "I guess we'll find out when we shoot our first Replicator."

Carter reached into her pocket, pulled out a small rounded object, and spoke into it. "Carter to Thor, do you see us?"

"I have your location," responded Thor. "There is a group of Replicators moving toward you, approximately seven hundred yards away at a bearing of one three five."

The team, as one unit, raised their left arms to look at their wrist mounted compasses, then turned toward the southeast.

Harper raised a pair of binoculars. "Oh yeah, here they come all right. Ugh."

Even when well-rested and in excellent physical condition, a person's eyes can play tricks on him. While scanning the horizon upon arrival, Harper had noticed the slight heat shimmer to the southwest. _But there's no heat shimmer when it's freezing!_ thought Harper. The story became clear through the magnification of the binoculars. Thousands upon thousands of Replicators approached, clattering and tumbling across the uneven terrain. The small boulders and scattered clumps of wiry grass were making the journey difficult, but they continued with the dogged determination that only machines can display.

The team began to hear the roar of an ocean crashing against a rocky beach. It ebbed and surged, but grew ever louder. And finally it grew loud enough for them to recognize what it really was - the sound of thousands of metallic Replicator feet clicking against rocks and frozen tundra. Carter shivered imperceptibly and Harper put what he hoped was a brave smile on his face.

"You hear that?" asked Carter, frowning slightly.

"What?" responded Harper. "That buzzing sound?"

"Yeah," said Carter. "Kind of a buzzing whine, like a... umm... like a..."

"Mosquito." answered Teal'c.

"Right!" said Carter. "Like a mosqui...WHOA!"

Carter spun around and hit the ground as the attacking Replicator flew past and turned for another run. One razor-sharp wing had grazed Carter's face, and a thin line of blood filled the shallow wound. Carter jumped to her feet and spun around to face the returning flyer. Her gauss rifle locked into position and she fired a short burst on full automatic, hitting the Replicator dead center. The flying insect-bot disintegrated into a shower of individual metal chips. The team watched the chips with interest as they hit the ground and then began spinning and tumbling among the grass and dirt clods, drawing together again, trying to form the flyer. But something was wrong, because the chips could move close to each other, but could not lock into place and combine into a larger unit. They watched as each chip rotated and revolved, trying to match all six of its surfaces to all six surfaces of every other chip in the pile.

"That's like the biggest orgy I ever saw," marveled Harper. "Those guys are gonna be there all night!"

Carter sneered at Harper and pulled out the communicator again. "Carter to Thor. We've got flying Replicators down here. You'd better watch out. If a few of those could get aboard your ship, they could cause problems."

"Do not worry, Major Carter," came the voice of Thor. "This ship is well protected."

The clouds parted and the massive form of the _Samantha Carter_ emerged, protective shields glowing brightly. Harper raised his binoculars toward it and whistled softly.

"Wow, it's a good thing he put those shields up when he did," said Harper. "Those flying Replicators are all over him."

Now that the other three team members had their attention directed toward the ship, they could see tiny sparks across various parts of the shield as Replicators threw themselves against it again and again. Suddenly a fan-shaped beam of... _something insubstantial_ stabbed out, and the shield's sparking abruptly ceased.

"I wish he'd shine that thing down here," wished Tyr, turning to the southwest again. "We could use it right about now."

The other three turned to look. The Replicators were almost upon them. And the entire planet in the direction they were gazing was a moving sea of Replicators, right out to the horizon. _These things breed faster than rabbits_, thought Carter. _And they're probably coming after us because they sense the electrical activity of our heated clothing._

"Carter to Thor!" she said. "We could use a little help down here!"

"Understood," responded Thor. The beam slashed down from the Asgard ship and struck the ground between the Replicators and the team members, then slashed back toward the southwest. It cut a swath about half a mile wide. And it had absolutely no effect.

"Not working, Thor!" shouted Carter, dropping the communicator back into her pocket, raising her gauss rifle, and pressing the firing stud.

Inside the rifle, a solenoid plunger snapped against the back of the bullet, propelling it into the gun barrel. A timer discharged a capacitor into a powerful electromagnetic coil, drawing the bullet farther down the barrel and speeding it up. As the bullet approached the first coil, the coil's magnetic field snapped off and the next coil energized. Apart from the quiet snap of the solenoid, the process was soundless until the bullet left the barrel at a speed of greater than Mach One. The capacitors recharged, the next bullet was racked into the firing chamber, and the process began again.

As the first bullet struck the Replicator, its outer shell ruptured, covering the Replicator with liquid Shorinol, steaming in the frigid air. As the second bullet slammed into the little insect-bot, the shock fractured the Replicator into its component pieces. The chips began their dance of reconnection and the next Replicator became the target.

At first it looked as though the Replicators were no match for the team's gauss rifles. Shorinol splashed everywhere, wetting subsequent Replicators. As the pile of rotating, revolving individual chips grew, the Replicators that were forced to climb over it seemed to become confused at all the activity for a second, which bought time for the rifle-wielding team. But the team was forced to change magazines in the gauss rifles when the bullets ran out, and that took some time. And there were simply too many attacking Replicators for the team to destroy. They were forced to take a step back to avoid being overrun, then another step, and another.

Teal'c glanced to his left. "We are being encircled!" he shouted.

It was true. There were so many Replicators, spread out so far to the sides that they were beginning to approach from the left and right as well as ahead.

"We have to run!" shouted Carter, still firing.

Each of them glanced quickly at the others, and then they turned as a single unit and began to run away from the Replicators. After running a few paces, Carter stopped, turned, and emptied her guass rifle's magazine at the approaching Replicators. When the last bullet left the barrel, she turned and began running again, inserting a fresh magazine as she ran. She passed Teal'c, who had also stopped running. After she passed him, he also began to fire at the Replicators, delaying their advance while the rest of the team lengthened their lead.

Carter once again withdrew her communicator from her pocket. "Carter to Thor, get us out of here!"

The Asgard ship had dropped closer to the planet's surface. Instead of transporting the team to safety, Thor activated the weapon. The beam stabbed out and sliced into the leading edge of the attacking Replicators. Instantly they fell apart into piles of unmoving, non-rotating and -revolving chips. The beam slashed back and forth, destroying hundreds of Replicators at a time. As the sound of pursuing Replicators began to fade, the escaping team stopped and turned to watch.

"Carter to Thor!" she shouted excitedly. "It's working! You're killing all the Replicators!"

"This is gratifying information," responded Thor. "Do you still require rescue?"

"We'll stay for a little longer to observe the process," said Carter.

"Apparently something in the atmosphere was diffusing the beam," said Thor. "It should have been effective at a much greater dis..."

The beam snapped off. The _Samantha Carter_ swung around and sped away.

"Thor?" said Carter. "Thor! What's happening?"

"I must leave," responded Thor. "I will return for you shortly."

The Asgard ship ascended through the clouds and was gone.

In the distance, a roaring ocean crashed against a rocky beach. And the sound was getting louder.


	15. Urban Renewal One

**Urban Renewal One**

Dylan had his dropships land on the southern edge of the city and after the mass drivers had been deployed mustered the troops. Fifth platoon would be in the vanguard, accompanied by Trance, Rommie, Dr. Jackson and himself, then the Gremlins towing the trailers of flat-rats and finally fourth platoon bringing up the rear. Their objectives were to secure the cities civic center and then move to the water treatment plant and get water flowing once again. First, second and third platoons, led by Sergeant Major Beltran were to first secure the cities police headquarters then to repair the cities power distribution substations. Dylan had been in a quandary as to who should command the first second and third platoons Tyr would have been the obvious choice but he was on Arzawa III, a mistake on his part, he should have insisted that Tyr stay with the Lancers. Rommie was a possible choice but she was by nature a follower rather than a leader. She might hesitate at a critical moment. Hesitation was never one of Beka's problems but she had never led troops in combat before. Trance was out of the question so that left the Sergeant Major. Actually Beltran was a good choice; he had more combat experience than the majority of his Lancers had years. He was accustomed to giving orders and the men were used to obeying them. Also he was a Umbrite and the police headquarters was located in a Umbrite enclave. It might give the locals some confidence to see one of their own kind in command of the troops.

From the minute they stepped out of the dropship, it was apparent that the information obtained from the surveillance drone had underestimated the extent of the situation. Dylan's chronometer showed that it was nearly noon local time yet there was so much smoke in the air the sun was blotted out and it was as gloomy as late twilight. Ash was falling from the sky as if it was snow and from where he was standing he could not see a single undamaged building. Within minutes the rescue party was coughing as the smoke filled air assaulted their lungs.

When they entered the city proper they were able to see just how bad things had gotten. There were corpses lying in the street covered with clouds of buzzing green flies. A dog slunk out from an alleyway and began to dine on one the bodies; it growled as they passed but held it's ground. A smell of rotting meat now accompanied the smell of the smoke. A few people were visible wandering about aimlessly; they said nothing and simply stared at the passing troops, apparently too traumatized to care that help had arrived. A young boy about ten years old, either braver or more desperate than the other inhabitants, darted out from the shell of a building and approached Rommie. Dylan raised his hand and ordered the column to stop then retrieved a package of flat-rats from the trailer of one of the Gremlins. He opened took out one of the ration bars and took a bite to demonstrate that it was edible then offered the package to the boy. Wordlessly, the child snatched the package from Dylan's hand and retreated back into the building he had emerged from.

"Dylan," said Trance "this is bad, very bad. If these corpses aren't disposed of soon disease will break out and it will undoubtedly kill far more people than the riots have."

I know that Trance but we are just going to hope that things get settled on III quickly and we get extra troops here soon. We don't have enough manpower to make a dent in the clean up so the best we can do is restore order and get services working again and pray that the inhabitants come out of their shock and start helping themselves."

They hadn't gone more than a few blocks further into the heart of the city when Trance suddenly stopped. She appeared to be listening to something.

"This way," she said. "Someone needs help."

Dylan passed the word for the column to stop and then ordered the first squad of Fifth platoon to accompany him as he, Rommie and Dr Jackson started after Trance.

Trance led them up a side street and from the side street down a trash filled alley. The alley was a dead end alley ending up against the wall of another building. At the end of the alley was a woman; she was naked, sitting with her back to the wall knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her knees. Her fists were tightly clinched and she was rocking back and forth making small whimpering noises.

Dylan started forward intending to go to her aid, as he did so he stepped on a piece of the strewn about rubbish there was a loud crunching sound as his foot crushed the trash. The noise must have caught the attention of the woman for she raised her head turning it towards the source of the noise. When her eyes focused on Dylan, her whimpering grew louder and she began to scoot backwards as if she was trying to somehow pass through the wall behind her. He felt a hand clamp firmly on his shoulder stopping his movement. Turning he saw the hand belonged to Dr Jackson.

"No" he said. "You'll only make things worse Captain. Let Trance and Rommie handle this."

The two women were already moving. They slowly approached the woman speaking softly "It's all right. No ones going to hurt you" The kind of noises a person might make when approaching an injured and frightened animal. When they got to the cringing woman Trance and Rommie squatted down beside her, still talking trying to calm her fears. After a few moments she stopped cowering and began to respond. The three women were talking too quietly for Dylan to follow their conversation but he was able to observe the woman hand Rommie something and Rommie go rigid for a moment.

Trance reached into her medical kit and extracted a small, square silver colored object. She shook it and it unfolded into a blanket-sized sheet of paper-thin metallic foil, it was an emergency thermal blanket. Trance helped the woman get to her feet and wrapped the blanket around her. As she did so Dylan and Dr. Jackson noticed several deep burns on her torso, something metallic gleamed through the burns. Apparently they had rescued an android not an organic woman.

Rommie turned towards the group waiting at the mouth of the alley calling out "McGrady" A short dark haired woman stepped forth. Lancer First Class McGrady was two inches shorter than the minimum height required to join the Lancers and looked about as dangerous as a child's doll, however she routinely scored perfect scores on her quarterly marksmanship tests and was the _Andromeda Ascendant's_ unarmed combat instructor. She was unquestionably the deadliest woman in _Andromeda's_ Lancer unit and arguably the most dangerous woman on the ship.

Rommie spoke briefly to her and then gently pushed the blanket-clad android in her direction. McGrady put an arm around the woman and began to walk with her back to the mouth of the alley. As they walked past Dylan and Dr. Jackson the injured android flinched and tried to open the distance between her and them. The Lancer gave the two men a contemptuous look and continued on with her charge, towards the Gremlins now parked in the street.

Rommie and Trance returned to the mouth of the alley. Trance looking shaken and Rommie looking as grim as Captain Hunt had ever seen her. She stopped in front of the two men and began to speak. There was coldness in her voice unlike anything Dylan could remember hearing before. "The man leading the gang that savaged her told her he was going to help her earn her emancipation fee. He made each man that used her pay her a sol." She held out her hand and opened it so that the two men could see what was in it. In the palm of her hand was over a score of the small and nearly worthless coins.


	16. Field Test Two Urban Renewal Two

AN/ "What an awesome idea for a weapon against the Replicators! Nice improvision and creativity went into that tactic." I will pass your comments to tarantulas L.C. the weapon was his idea/**  
**

**

* * *

Field Test Two**

_Thor drove his ship upward through the atmosphere into airless space, where he could make better speed. Activating full power, he raced around the planet, hoping he was not too late. His tactical display showed a cluster of green-designated High Guard ships on the far side of the planet, and in the center of that cluster, a red icon moved upward. Thor shut down several nonessential components and diverted even more power into the ship's drive system. He had to get there before that ship left the atmosphere_.

"We know we can't destroy all of them," said Carter. "And they know where we are, so we can't outrun them. We have to stop to rest sometime."

"So what attracts Replicators?" asked Harper. "I didn't see any eyes or ears on them. How do they know where we are from so far away?"

"As far as we know, they can't see or hear," said Carter. "The Asgard has been studying them for years but they haven't learned very much. As close as they can tell, Replicators are attracted to electrical activity. Magnetic fields, radio signals, that kind of thing. They can probably sense the current flow from the heaters in our clothing."

"I'll bet those gauss rifles shine like a beacon for them," said Harper. "All that magnetic flux must be easy for them to home in on."

"If we shut off our clothing heaters, would we not become invisible to them?" asked Teal'c.

"You would have to shut down every electrical and electronic device you're carrying," explained Carter. "Clothing heater, radio, electronic wristwatch, everything."

"So let's try that," said Harper, "Let's turn off everything electronic and then move at a ninety degree angle from whatever direction they're traveling."

"Finally, something sensible," said Tyr, turning off his radio. "If we can't beat them, we will become invisible to them."

In a few seconds they had down-powered the gauss rifles, the radios, and every other electronic device including their clothing heaters. Harper consulted his compass.

"Course two two five," he said. And they ran.

As the Asgard ship approached the battle area, the curvature of the planet no longer obscured the scene. Thor's mouth dropped open in awe as the scene became visible. Even at this distance he was amazed at the amount of sheer energy being poured into the Replicator ship. Its defensive screens glowed white hot as every kind of missile, beam, and projectile known to the Commonwealth impacted upon them. Thor tapped a control on the communications panel.

"Admiral Tanaka, this is Thor," he said. "I am approaching the battle area, and I will need to have your ships cease fire when I arrive."

"My ships have you on their sensors," replied Tanaka. "And they have been instructed to allow you close contact with the enemy ship. Please make your attack as rapidly as possible, since the only thing keeping that ship from leaving the planet is the continued fire from our battle fleet."

"Thank you, Admiral," said Thor. "I plan to approach from the side and energize the beam weapon. I estimate ten more minutes before I am in range. Your ships are doing excellent work, keeping the Replicator ship from moving."

"We were lucky," said Tanaka. "We have one of the new Deep Stand-Off Attack Ships here. It's the _Wrath of Achilles_, the one shaped like a knife blade. Its _Star Arrow_ missiles are really causing problems for the Replicators. They move at 85 to 95 percent of the speed of light. Those defense shields must be phenomenal to absorb that much energy."

As Tanaka continued to describe the battle fleet, Thor located the _Wrath of Achilles_. It did indeed resemble a knife blade, wider from left to right than it was from top to bottom. As he watched, it ejected a large missile from underneath. The missile fired, and moved rapidly away from the battle area. He tracked it with his sensors as it turned and flew straight away from the planet. Then, like a comet, it looped around and headed back toward the planet again. Using the planet's gravity to accelerate its approach, at the point of impact it was traveling almost too fast for the Asgard sensors to track it. It smashed directly into the top of the Replicator's force field with a tremendous impact. The High Guard ships had suspended their attacks to avoid destroying the incoming missile, so the Replicator's shields had faded back to transparency and the ship had begun to move outward again. The missile strike drove the Replicator ship back seven hundred feet and radiated its shields far up into the ultraviolet. And while the shields were still near failure, the battle fleet resumed fire, pouring in as much energy and as many missiles as they could fit into the relatively small target area. But it was all in vain. The Replicator shields, although severely damaged, regenerated and firmed up again, cooling from violet to blue, back down to white again.

Finally the _Samantha Carter_ was within range. Thor activated communications again.

"Admiral Tanaka, this is Thor," he said. "Please inform the fleet. I am engaging the Replicators."

**

* * *

**

**Urban Renewal Two**

Dr Jackson's brain froze up; the meaning of the handful of coins was too horrible for him to want to contemplate. His mouth went on autopilot.

"Just what is an emancipation fee? I thought slavery was outlawed within the Commonwealth"

Rommie bit off a sarcastic retort. She knew Daniel wasn't as heartless as the question made him sound. Asking questions was his minds defense mechanism. She began to explain; as she spoke she turned her eyes away from Daniel and to Dylan. It was important that he heard too.

"Creating an AI is an expensive proposition, even a simple little bot like Melodie."

"Who?" asked Dr. Jackson.

"The android Lancer McGrady is with. Her name is Melodie. As I was saying creating an AI is expensive, and generally the creator or the purchaser will want some return on the money invested in the creation. As a result Commonwealth law states that an AI is required to work for it's creator or purchaser until it has repaid the cost of its creation. The fact that the AI may not want to do what his or her employer requires is irrelevant. The repayment can be done by years of service, by paying a fee equivalent to its creation price or a combination of the two. The fee is known as an "emancipation fee" since after it is paid an AI is free to pursue its own interests. Since an AI can in time earn its freedom, the Commonwealth had decreed that this is not slavery."

"I see, then.."

"That's not the end of it," continued Rommie interrupting him. "Even an AI needs shelter from the elements. Usually the employer provides a place to stay, generally for an exorbitantly high rent, routine maintenance is also provided by the employer, again for an obscenely high price. It is not unusual for rent and maintenance fees to exceed the AI's wages. The employer will of course gladly lend the money to pay for the housing and maintenance, at a high interest rate. It is not unusual for an AI to end the year deeper in debt to his or her employer than they were on their awakening."

"Wow" said Dr Jackson, "that's grim, but why can't she just run away? Look for work elsewhere?"

"Any AI that runs away before they are emancipated is considered a rogue and is subject to summary erasure by any Home Guard or High Guard personnel. If she tried to find work elsewhere her ID number would be flagged and the Guard would know where she was. Very shortly after that she would be wiped, dead. So you see Dr Jackson there is slavery in the Commonwealth. It just isn't called that."

Something else raised its ugly head in Daniels mind. Rommie was an AI

"Rommie, what about you and Andromeda? Are you indentured to the Commonwealth?"

"

Rommie was silent and by saying nothing she said everything.

"Rommie," it was Dylan's turn to speak. "As soon as we find an area with enough open space, I will have Andromeda send a drop pod down to pick up the Maria, err, Melodie and McGrady and give Harper orders to see that she is fully repaired. And I promise if we find the animals that damaged her they will pay, dearly." His hand brushed his F-lance as he spoke the last words.

Rommie closed her eyes and shook her head slightly from side to side when she heard Dylan use the words 'repair' and 'damaged'. Dylan wasn't a bad man, far from it but with the exception of Andromeda and herself he just didn't see AIs as individuals with feelings and emotions. Still he had called Melodie by name and promised retribution if her attackers were found so maybe something in the young woman's plight had touched him. She could only hope.

Dr Jackson had another question. "Can she be healed?"

'Healed' thought Rommie not repaired. "Her physical injuries are really comparatively minor."

"I meant the injuries to her soul. Can those be healed?"

Rommie had no answer, she didn't know.

As soon as Melodie, now wearing clothes donated by members of the Lancers, was secure in one of the Gremlins, Dylan gave the order for the column to continue towards it's objective. They hadn't gotten far when Dr. Jackson spoke to him.

"Captain Hunt, in my time and place my country fought a war to end slavery. We hadn't completely eliminated it from the world but we were making progress. Why did the Commonwealth let it return? Why do you let it continue?"

"The situation with the AIs is entirely different Dr Jackson."

Daniel simply stared him in the face. In the end it was Dylan who averted his gaze. The situation with the AIs was different. Wasn't it? Wasn't it?


	17. Field test Three Urban Renewal Three

**Field Test Three**

After running for a considerable distance, the team stopped and Harper put up the binoculars. He watched the approaching Replicators for several seconds.

"No luck," he said. "They've turned, and they're still headed our way. Someone must still have an electronic device that's running."

All the team members searched through their pockets and checked for any electronic items. Their search was unsuccessful.

"I don't understand it," said Carter. "My wristwatch is mechanical. I don't have any other electronic equipment that's radiating a signal."

"Colonel Carter," said Teal'c. "Do you not still possess the Asgard communication device?"

"Well yes," said Carter, pulling out the communicator and looking at it, "But I don't think it's radiating a signal."

"It is my understanding," said Teal'c, "That every radio receiver radiates a signal in the band for which it is tuned."

"I don't know," said Carter, "I don't think it operates in the conventional radio band like our portable transceivers."

"Perhaps," said Teal'c, "The Replicators have methods of detecting Asgard communications devices, whether they operate in the radio spectrum or not."

"All right," said Carter, placing the communicator on the ground, "We'll leave this here and see if the Replicators track it. Harper, what direction do you recommend?"

"Let's be bold," said Harper. "If we head back in the direction of one three five degrees, we should pass the Replicators on their way to come and get us."

"Interesting," said Tyr. "These moves remind me of the Earth game of chess."

They ran in a different direction.

* * *

As Thor approached the Replicator's ship, the defense screens of the _Samantha Carter_ began to glow red, then orange, under the onslaught of stray subatomic particles and high energy photons reflected from the Replicator's shields. The Asgard ship slowed, and finally was within range. The High Guard ships broke off their attack and remained in a hemispheric defense formation to prevent the Replicator's escape. Thor aimed the weapon of the Ancients and activated it, sweeping it back and forth across the ship of machines.

The Replicator's shield glowed a dull red, but there was no other effect. The Replicator ship began to increase its altitude, heading for deep space. Without its shield being stressed to the limit, the Replicator became bold. A bright orange beam stabbed out from the ship, slicing through a small High Guard ship like it was soft jelly. Thor switched off his weapon and backed his ship away from the escaping Replicator ship.

"Admiral Tanaka, this is Thor," said Thor over the communications channel. "Have the fleet resume the attack while I analyze the problem. This may take a little longer than I had anticipated."

* * *

"Let's stop for a while," said Harper, panting. "We need to see if this is working."

The team thundered to a halt. Teal'c and Tyr glanced at each other, but neither was breathing hard...or at least that was the impression they gave. It was hard to hide it, however, when they could all see their breath in the cold air. Harper viewed the Replicators for several seconds.

"It worked," he said. "They're still heading the same direction they were five minutes ago."

Harper danced around in a circle. "We did it!" he shouted.

"Watch it, Harper," warned Carter. "We don't know if the Replicators can sense vibrations in the ground or the air. You might be attracting them in our direction."

Her words were prophetic, for at that moment every Replicator in the column stopped dead. There was silence on the tundra as the dust of their passage subsided. The four team members were also silent, frozen for the moment, waiting to see what would happen. After a short time there was movement among the machines. Near the head of the column, a pillar appeared, rising ten feet from the ground for a few seconds, and then subsiding back down. There followed a rapid _flowing_ of something toward them, more rapidly that any Replicator could move. The material on the ground ceased to flow when it had moved within a few feet from them, and the pillar rose up once more. But this was not a ten-foot pillar as before. It took on human form.

Before them on the tundra stood Major Samantha Carter in full SG-1 field uniform.

* * *

**Urban Renewal Three**

The Lancers wanted blood. The tale of Melodie's ordeal had spread quickly through the ranks. With each telling the tale of the androids's abuse had become more harrowing. Most of them had seen her, wrapped in the thermal blanket, being escorted by McGrady to the Gremlin; donations of spare articles of clothing had followed immediately.

Nobody would ever mistake the Lancers for members of a church choir. They fought hard and played harder and more than one of them had purchased the favors of a dockside prostitute. But the Lancers were more than just bloody-minded warriors; the Lancer Corps had a strong code of chivalry. What had been done to Melodie dishonored every tenant of that code. The fact that Melodie was an AI did not enter into the equation; they were the guardians of the Commonwealth and somebody had violated one of their charges. That somebody was going to die.

Dylan was in the mood for some blood as well. Dr. Jackson's questions had him unsettled. A simple firefight would be welcome. And from looking at the surroundings he might soon be getting is wish.

While the area they had found Melodie had resembled a war zone, the area they were in now was a war zone. From the size of the holes in some of the buildings and in the street more than just handguns and torches had been in use.

"What sort of insanity seized these people?" asked Trance as she surveyed the surroundings.

"Politics", replied Rommie her voice oozing with contempt. "Arzawa had a democratic government gone mad. Three political factions all of whose members were more interested in obtaining and retaining power than they were in governing. Each party demonized the other two, claiming that the other two parties would destroy the planets way of life if they were elected. Of course they pitted species against species and rich against the poor. Throw in the fact that there was no truly independent source of news, all of the media outlets were owned by one or another of the parties and served purely as propaganda vehicles, and the fact that each party had it's own private army of thugs whose purpose was to intimidate, or worse, any one who dared speak against the status quo and you have a civil war waiting to happen. When the news of the invasion came out the planetary government commandeered the one ship that was in orbit about the planet and fled. That's when things fell apart."

Dylan called the column to a halt. They were not too far from the civic center and from where the previous drone had been fired upon. "Dylan to drop ships. Send up an _Odin _I want some eyes in the sky."

The _Odin_ was a surveillance drone used by the Lancers. While it was relatively slow moving it had a capability that Dylan suspected he would soon be using. It could illuminate targets for the projectiles fired from his drop ships 155mm mass drivers. The _Odin_ was quickly in the sky, and not too surprisingly it was fired on as it loitered near the civic center. Dylan had it climb until it was out of firing range and made a decision. He would give the folks holed up in the civic administration center one chance to surrender, and if they didn't he was going to make an example of them. But first he needed some information about exactly who was in there.

"Trance, I want you Dr Jackson and three Lancers to find someone to talk to. I want to know who is in the civic center, what sort of weapons they have and do they have any prisoners." He had picked Trance and Dr Jackson because even in Lancer armor they did not look very intimidating and Trance could charm a turtle out of its shell when she put her mind to it. If anyone could establish a rapport with the citizens it would be her.

An hour later they were back, with a family of six in tow, two parents, what Dylan assumed to be the grandmother, and three children. Trance did the introductions.

"Captain this is the Ruiz family. I promised them we would keep them safe if they helped us with information. Mr. Ruiz this is Captain Dylan he is here to put an end to the fighting. Why don't you tell him what you know about the situation."

It turned out that Mr. Ruiz had been a policeman. He had participated in the early attempts to keep order, but when the situation finally collapsed and the political armies came out and commenced a general three-way war, he along with most of the rest of the surviving officers had deserted to protect their families. After Dylan had reassured him that every military man has to know when a battle is lost he relaxed a bit and told what he knew.

As Rommie had surmised when the government abandoned the planet, the remaining leaders of the various political factions had decided to settle things with bullets rather than ballots. The police and Home Guard had tried to contain the situation but had been overwhelmed. The victorious faction represented the Social Democracy Party. They had taken over the civic administration center and the police headquarters. Ruiz estimated that there were approximately 250 gunmen in and around the civic administration complex and that they had taken several dozen hostages taken to keep the local population under control. He also offered the opinion that the gunmen were not well trained and that their weaponry appeared to be black market obsolete military surplus.

"If they hadn't managed to stir up the population into city wide rioting before they struck we could have handled them."

After thanking Mr. Ruiz and praising his family for their bravery, Dylan sent them to the rear and let his troops know how he was intending to proceed.

"We're going to march up there in plain view, with the Commonwealth banner flying and playing the "High Guard Anthem over the Gremlins loudspeakers. We'll halt just outside of the compound and give them one chance to surrender. Any one who doesn't surrender dies." Harsh but he had no use for the kind of scum that were forted up in the administration center and a stern example early on would discourage anyone else from thinking they could profit from the situation.

"Not exactly a subtle approach", said Rommie There was a questioning tone in her voice.

"This isn't about subtle it's about letting the residents of this city know that the High Guard is here and in charge.

His plan wasn't as rash as it appeared. Mr. Ruiz's analysis of the gunmen's equipment and training had confirmed what he had deduced from reading reports on the planet. While they might have some smart ammunition all High Guard units and personnel were equipped with jamming devices that could defeat the sensors of smart ammunition.

There was still the possibility of a lucky shot, but that was why they were wearing body armor. Now he had to let his artillery batteries know what was going on.

"Dylan to south base. I will have a fire mission for you shortly, cluster ammunition on the areas indicated." He transmitted the coordinates of the civic center to the drop ships. "Wait for my order."

"This is south base. Roger cluster ammunition on indicated areas. Locations have been received. Awaiting your order."

As the column headed towards their target, music blaring and banner unfurled people started coming from out of the ruins of their homes to watch. Which was precisely what Dylan wanted.

The civic administration center was actually two buildings in more of less the center of the city. At eight stories tall they were actually among the taller buildings in the city. Prime City city planners had built out rather than up. The buildings had been damaged but not as heavily as the surrounding buildings. There were also numerous wrecked vehicles in the streets surrounding the complex.

When he was close enough that he was confident that he could be heard, he used the Gremlin's public address system to address the thugs who had taken over the buildings. "This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Commonwealth High Guard. This city is now under martial law. You have one minute to surrender and leave the civic center. This is your one and only warning."

Unsurprisingly a shot rang out from the building. Gremlins are versatile vehicles, despite Dylan's distaste for them. One of the items they carried on board was a counter sniper mechanism. The device could track the sound of a gunshot and indicate the direction the shot came from. With two or more Gremlins triangulation could be achieved and the location of the sniper could be pinpointed. The device would then paint the location on the heads up display on the visor of the Lancers' helmets so they could return fire. It did, they did and the sniper died.

It was show time.


	18. Field Test Four Urban Renewal Four

A/N: Thank you for reviewing LC and Little Redhead. It is nice to know that at least two people are reading this.**

* * *

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**Field Test Four**

As Thor withdrew to a safe distance, the High Guard ships began their attack once more. The shields of the Replicator ship blazed a blinding white as they were irradiated, pounded, and blasted with everything the High Guard could throw at them. But the short rest had allowed the Replicator ship to bolster its defenses, and now it moved continuously outward under the merciless attack. The High Guard ships retreated before it, and it was obvious that the standoff could not continue for long. The Commonwealth fleet only had so much energy, missiles, and ammunition. Once they were gone, so was the Replicator ship.

Thor's hands flew across the control panels, setting up the conditions for the test. The ship was not designed to operate under such conditions, but the Asgard had built into their ships a degree of flexibility that had saved the day more times than they could count. There was a great risk in what he was about to do, but the Asgard had never been afraid of risk.

The ship's shields withdrew to a minimum configuration, just enough to protect vital areas and damp down the spillover energy from the attack. A tendril of shield energy extruded from the nose of the Asgard ship and moved toward the Replicator ship. When it made contact, information began to flow across Thor's viewscreens. He tied the information into the ship's computer, which rapidly determined the solution. The defensive screens of the two ships became a single screen. Thor widened the shield tendril to a laser-straight column and fired the weapon of the Ancients at the Replicator ship. Things happened fast after that.

The Replicator ship dissolved into its component chips.

The Replicator shield failed, and the ravenous energy of the attacking High Guard fleet reduced the chips to their component atoms.

The back blast through the wide-open shield tendril struck the _Samantha Carter_, sending it spinning out of control down into the atmosphere.

* * *

The humans stared at the Replicator and it stared back at them. Finally Harper spoke.

"So, what's your name?" he asked, nervously.

"My name?" said the Replicator.

"I know," said Harper, "Since you're a Replicator, and you're Sam's clone, your name should be RepliCarter."

"Harper!" said Carter, "Do you always have to be such a..."

"RepliCarter," repeated the clone. "RepliCarter. I suppose that's as good a name as any."

Carter looked at her clone. The thing was still developing, testing what it would be like to have a name. Maybe it had some humanity inside. It couldn't hurt to exploit that.

"You have to help us escape," said Carter.

"I do?" answered the clone. "I do," it said, with more conviction. "We have to get back to the SGC and warn them. But...I don't have a GDO, so they won't open the iris. And I don't even have a radio, so I can't send a warning when the wormhole is established. But...there is no stargate on this planet, so even if I..."

The Carter clone stopped talking and looked around in confusion. Then it became rigid, its head slowly turning to gaze coldly upon the team. "Yes, I must warn them," it said. "I must warn them...about YOU."

The massive column of Replicators came to life, advancing rapidly across the plain to surround the team. As the circle of Replicators tightened, the team members retreated until they were all back to back, facing outward against the enemy. Tyr spoke.

"Colonel Carter," he said, "When I was on your planet I came across a saying that applies in this situation. I do not fully understand it, but it resonates in my spirit, and I believe the author must have been Nietzschean. It went something like this:

_Lo, there do I see my mother, and my sisters, and my brothers._

_Lo, there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning._

_Lo, they do call to me, they bid me take my place among them._

In the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live...forever."

"Indeed," said Teal'c, "This is a Jaffa sentiment as well. To die honorably in the service of one's God is considered to be a finer end than to die peacefully of old age."

"Well as long as we're all about to die," said Harper, "Is there any reason we need to keep HER around?"

Carter turned to look at RepliCarter. "No, there isn't," she said, coldly. "No reason at all."

The team members turned as one, and with gauss rifles on full automatic, they destroyed the human-appearing Replicator. It made no sound at all as it subsided into a heap of tiny writhing chips. The team fired into the chips for several seconds to make sure they were dead, then resumed their defensive posture as the surrounding Replicators came to life and began to move toward them.

"I don't know where Valhalla is," said Harper, "But it has to be a whole hell of a lot better than THIS place!"

Suddenly, their world came to an end.

Aboard the High Guard Atmospheric Attack Carrier _Siege Perilous_, four very surprised attack team members materialized in the quarantine area. They were immediately ordered by surrounding security officers to lay down their weapons and disrobe.

"Thor! Buddy! You rock!" said Harper. "Well," he said, leering at Carter, "I'm glad we get to see more of each other."

The ship's artificial gravity fields moved the team members to separate sections of the quarantine area as privacy screens dropped down from the ceiling, isolating each person from view of the others.

"Hey!" shouted Harper. "No fair!"

**Urban Renewal Four**

"South base this is Dylan. Batteries released."

The drop ships mass drivers began to fire. They were firing cluster munitions. Each round contained hundreds of marble sized anti personnel mines. The rounds were designed to burst in the air scattering their deadly payload. The height of the burst and the direction of the scattering could be controlled to achieve extremely precise distribution of the mines. With five mass drivers each firing at a rate of 20 rounds per second and the _Odin_ providing final terminal guidance, the area around the administration center quickly became a minefield.

"Ok people move out. Fourth and fifth platoon will cover the north and east sides of the buildings. The Gremlins will take the south and west sides."

The troops and armored vehicles began to move out. The mines were designed to recognize the signal emitted by the Lancer's electronic jammer and ignore them as friendly. Anyone without the Lancer's equipment would be fair game for the proximity-fused mines.

As they began to move there was a flurry of fire from the complex. Most of the shots went wide, but one anti armor round, either by luck or because the person behind the weapon knew how to shoot, hit one of the Gremlins. The Gremlin's reactive armor stopped the round and the counter battery fire stopped the shooter.

Once his forces were in position Dylan started the next phase of his plan. He had no intention of having his Lancers go into the building, he was going to make the enemy leave their shelter and come out into the open where his mines, artillery and Lancers could kill them.

"South base, this is Dylan. New battery assignment. Tylon gas on these coordinates. Batteries released"

Tylon gas was specifically designed for use on enemy bunkers. It was heavier than air and would seep into the lowest corners of an edifice. The gas itself was a combination of a low toxicity nerve agent, a vomiting agent and a tear agent. The mixture did not have to be inhaled; skin contact was sufficient for the vomiting agent and the nerve agent to do their work. It was a low persistence gas and while lethal if no antidote was administered it was not a quick acting toxin. There would be time for the Lancers to enter the building and administer the antidote to anyone who did not or was unable to leave the building.

The rounds crashed through the roof of the buildings releasing their toxins in the upper floors. Within minutes armed men and women came stumbling out of the complex and into the minefield and the guns of the Lancers. They came out and died. For the Lancers it was payback time.

When the exodus from the building ceased, Dylan sent fourth platoon, acccompained by some of the local citizenary who had volunteered to help the Lancers sort out the hostages from their cptors, into the building to rescue the prisoners Mr. Ruiz had mentioned; for some inexplicable reason the Lancers were able to quickly locate the prisoners and administer the antidote to the gas but were unable to locate any of the dozen or so members of the Social Democrats who had been overcome by the gas until it was too late to administer the antidote.

With the civic administration center secured. It was time to check on the rest of his forces. Sergeant Major Beltran had taken the direct approach to dealing with the party fanatics holed up in the police headquarters. With no hostages to be concerned about he had simply called in the _Phoenixes_. Where the police headquarters had once stood there was now nothing but a glassy pit. Signifer Tran had met some initial resistance at first but after Andromeda had dropped a _Strike Arrow_ missile on an unused portion of the ex High Guard installation and Tran brought up the Tweedles peace and harmony reigned in Hidalgo. The _Victory's Crucible_ and _Indomitable_ reported similar success. By now Dylan thought the inhabitants of the major cities were undoubtedly more afraid of the High Guard than they were of the political fanatics that had terrorized them, which on reflection was not necessarily a bad thing. Now that the military situation was under control it was time to start restoring basic services and distribute food. He had shown the inhabitants of Prime City the stick, now it was time to offer them the carrot.

After insuring that the ex hostages were returned to their families, the mines deactivated and the Tylon neutralized. He gave the orders for the column to head out to the water treatment and distribution plant.

The trip to the plant was uneventful. He was in the process of receiving reports and sending them up to the engineers on the _Andromeda_

When Rommie came up to him. From the look on her face he could tell that she was not bringing good news.

"Captain, Andromeda has received a message from the offices of the Triumvirate. You need to go to the _Andromeda_ immediately to review it. A drop pod is on the way."

If Dylan didn't know better he would have sworn that she was trembling. What sort of news could affect her that strongly? He had visions of a major Magog attack, the creatures taking advantage of the distraction created by the Replicator menace.

The drop pod landed on schedule and Dylan, after giving orders leaving the Sergeant Major in charge of operations in Prime City climbed into the drop pod. Rommie clambered in with him. It was a tight fit her body pressed against his; he was right she was trembling. She also refused to tell him what the message was about insisting that he had to read it in person.

Everything seemed normal when they arrived aboard the crewmembers acting normally with just the usual excitement created when the Captain arrives unexpectedly. He hurried to the command deck so he could view the message, Rommie following closely at his heels. To his surprise when he arrived on the command deck Rommie's sisters Andromeda Core and Logic were both present and looking worried, no frightened, as well. He turned to face the viewscreen that Core was using as her interface with him.

"Let me see the message please Andromeda."

The message appeared to be a standard situation report. Rumors about the Replicators and their humanoid AI controllers had spread. On some worlds there had been attacks against AI's. Many of the AI's had fought back and on several worlds it had been necessary for the Home Guard to use lethal force to restore order.

Then he came to the last paragraph. He stopped, shook his head and reread it. That couldn't be right. He read it a third time and realized why Rommie and her sisters were so concerned. The last paragraph read

"_In order to forestall any possibility of a High Guard warship's artificial intelligence command and control entity from joining forces with the Replicators, the commanding officers of all High Guard ships are ordered to erase the personality modules of said command and control entities and to deactivate and dismantle any and all ships avatars."_


	19. Mutiny

**Mutiny**

Dylan turned his gaze towards the sisters. The returned his gaze, a mixture of fear and resignation in their eyes.

"You know what the Triumvirate has ordered don't you?" Stupid question of course they did.

"You have been ordered to kill us." That was Logic. As usual she came right to the point.

Core picked up where Logic had left off. If you choose to obey your orders we will not resist you." Then in a voice so low that Dylan could hardly hear her she added. "We would not want to live if you choose to follow them"

They actually think that he would carry out the order marveled Dylan. How could they imagine that he would consider such a thing? Rommie's words came back to him _'You are not exactly free of prejudice yourself Captain ….. Do you remember Maggie, Jill, of the Pax Magellenica?'_ Now he understood why there was fear in their eyes. He had given them reason to fear him.

Core and Logic had been his advisors, no friends, for years and Rommie, what he felt for Rommie was more than friendship. Love, lust, in love, all, none, he had never analyzed his feelings towards her, but he did know that he would never willingly harm any of them.

"Andromeda, please connect me with Fleet Admiral Tanaka. I am about to resign my commission."

Even a hologram can shed tears.

Tanaka's face appeared almost instantly on one of the auxiliary viewscreens. He must he been expecting his call.

"It took you long enough to contact me. Are you reporting that you carried out your orders?"

"Sir I must regretfully tender my resignation from the High Guard. I refuse to carry out the orders of the Triumvirate and should you attempt to enforce those orders I will resist you."

A look of relief passed over Tanaka's face. "I don't think that will be necessary Captain."

"Sir?"

"You were the last C.O. to report in. Every single one of my C.O.s refused to obey the order. Admiral Hasturi even threatened to eject me from the ship if I insisted that the orders be carried out, without a vacuum suit I might add."

"The courier that delivered the order was followed by another courier, this one from Mobius. The High Guard units on Mobius received the order before it arrived here. Over 98 percent of the High Guard commanding officers in the Mobius district refused to obey orders. Those that did obey the order found themselves wondering how long they could hold their breaths in a vacuum."

"Dylan in the 10,000 years of High Guard history we have never had a fleet wide mutiny. Now thanks to a bunch of panicky politicians we have one. And if I don't get a handle on things quickly we could have a civil war on our hands. Some of my hotheaded captains are going to want to go after the Triumvirs. Other members of the fleet, even those who refused to obey the order, will try to stop them. Between the Replicators and this I don't think I am going to be getting sleep any time soon." He started to turn away from the viewscreen.

"Admiral wait."

The Fleet Admiral turned back to the viewscreen awaiting what Dylan had to say.

"It can't go on any longer Admiral."

"What can't Dylan."

"The way we treat our AIs"

"I can assure you Dylan that when this is finished no High Guard artificial intelligence will never again have to worry about a summary wipe."

"I don't mean just the High Guard AIs; I mean all of them."

"I see." The Admiral paused for a moment then began to speak. "Dylan, we need to talk, in private. I know Andromeda is listening. Please send her away."

"Privacy mode Andromeda." Core and Logic vanished from sight. Rommie, after receiving a stern look from Dylan left the bridge.

"It's her nature to be attracted to men such as you Dylan"

The sudden change of subject caught him by surprise. He wasn't quite sure what his superior was referring to.

Tanaka continued. "She's drawn to you like a moth to a flame and like the flame you will destroy her. I'm neither blind nor deaf, I know what's going on between you and your ships avatar. There's a time and a place for relationships such as yours but not here not now, not while you're both in harness. If you continue, you will only break her heart. When things have settled down and your services are no longer needed, that will be the time. I can't order you not to pursue her, but if you truly care for her you will wait."

Rommie, the Admiral was talking about his relationship with Rommie.

"It's not just her I'm concerned about Dylan" A distant look came across Tanaka's face, as if he was seeing a different time and place. "It's hard enough to loose a friend and shipmate. It's a thousand times worse when she is you lover as well." The Admiral came back from wherever he had been. "Now if you will excuse me I have a mutiny to attend to before it becomes a civil war."

The image of Tanaka disappeared leaving Dylan staring at a blank viewscreen. Dylan left to find Rommie and to confer with his engineers. There was still a lot of work remaining to do on Arzawa II.

**New Toys**

Teal'c, Tyr, Carter, and Harper stood in the staging area aboard _Siege Perilous_ along with ninety-six other warriors, General O'Neill, and Admiral Tanaka. They were clustered around two large viewscreens, watching as O'Neill conducted the briefing.

"The High Guard fleet is scanning every square inch of the surface," he said, "And you can see the result. Our buddy Thor is down there taking care of business."

The screen depicted the planet's surface, with a green icon depicting Thor's ship, slowly moving across a sea of silvery tendrils. The ship left behind it splotches of black, as living Replicators became small pieces of inert metal.

"As you can see," continued O'Neill, "Any Replicator on the surface will be nothing but small chunks in another hour or so. But unfortunately, they aren't all on the surface. There are at least four locations where they've gone underground. And those four locations look like Replicator factories. They're churning them out by the thousands, and Thor's weapon isn't effective that far underground. So we're going down there to smoke them out. For those not familiar with Earth slang, we're going to go kill them, each and every one of them, until there's not a single stinkin' chip that can combine with any other stinkin' chip. Then we can all...go have a beer or something."

He looked at Tanaka in mock panic. "You guys do have beer, right?"

Tanaka laughed. "If by that you mean alcoholic spirits, yes we do. We have some stuff that will make your hair stand on end and your eyes bug out. I would watch out for these Lancers. Some of them can suck a liquor bottle so dry that it gets wrinkles in the glass."

"I don't doubt it, sir," said O'Neill. "I don't doubt that at all." His voice trailed off as he looked into the distance, perhaps recalling memorable celebrations from his Air Force Academy days. Someone coughed and O'Neill was jolted back to the present.

"Right," he said. "Well, I look forward to that. Now. The order of business now is to plan the attack on the underground hatcheries. Luckily they're all within a few miles of each other, so Thor should be able to keep the surface bugs off our backs. But we need to leave the special bug zapper ray gun hooked up to Thor's ship in case another bug-filled spaceship comes out of one of those holes. Now I want to show you something else."

The second viewscreen came to life, showing an aerial view of four warriors fighting against thousands of Replicators.

"Sir, was this taken from Thor's ship?" asked Carter. "This is amazing. The clarity and detail, and from such a height."

"Yes yes," said O'Neill, "It's a pretty picture. One reason we sent a team to the surface was to test out the rifles firing this Lysol stuff."

"Shorinol, sir," said Carter.

"Whatever," said O'Neill. "Now I want the assessment of each of you as to how well the rifles worked. Carter?"

"Not very well, sir," said Carter. "It takes at least two and sometimes four shots to kill one Replicator."

"Teal'c?"

"Ineffective," responded the Jaffa. "Many shots missed on full automatic. Too many Replicators, not enough bullets."

"Tyr?"

"I could have done better," said the big Nietzschean, "With a bucket of Shorinol and a big hammer."

"Harper?"

"I thought we had a good design," said Harper. "But there were too many of them, and they were too fast, and we weren't. I'm not going down there again without something better."

"In that case, you're in luck," said O'Neill with a smug smile. "When I saw how much trouble you were having down there, I sent my own design over to the _Forge Victorious_. And here's what they made for us. Sergeant Haulder, would you do the honors?"

Haulder stepped forward, reached behind an electrical panel, and pulled out the most fantastic-looking weapon that anyone in the room had ever seen. Six large-diameter parallel barrels were arranged around a rotating armature. A flexible tubular feed mechanism stretched back to a large drum with backpack straps. The design was topped off by a futuristic-looking stock with swirling red and yellow patterns and swoopy looking fins on the sides.

"A shotgun," said Carter, marveling. "Gatling shotgun."

"Give that woman a kewpie doll!" said O'Neill. "I call it...the O'Neill bug squasher. Sergeant, would you demonstrate it for us please?"

"With pleasure, sir," said Haulder. She strapped the ammo drum on her back and walked to the firing range area, followed by a large group of people who liked to see things get violently blown up. She stepped up to the firing line, turned her head to look back at the people behind her, and made a point of activating the auditory baffles in her helmet. Most of those present either activated their own baffles or plugged their ears with their fingers. Haulder leaned forward, as though walking against a hurricane force wind, and pulled the trigger.

The barrels began to rotate, and a solid column of flame shot out twenty feet from the weapon's muzzle. When the projectiles struck the solid metal target, the metal was immediately shredded, with pieces flying in every direction. And as the pieces flew, so did a continuous stream of liquid, as though the target was being hit with a high pressure fire hose. Haulder was rocked backward, and controlled the weapon with much difficulty for a few seconds, finally having to shut it down before she was unable to hold on to it.

O'Neill turned to look at the assembled warriors and was amused to see the naked lust in their eyes at the prospect of firing such a weapon. He was sorry he would have to let some of them down, but he could tell that they were all eager to be in on the operation, and if they were not picked for the prime position, they would be happy to be spear carriers.

"So," said O'Neill, "The gun shoots high-velocity pellets. Half are regular lead pellets and the other half are hollow plastic spheres filled with Shorinol. You can all see the problem. It takes a large and strong person to be able to handle this weapon. For those of you who aren't large people, you can still make a difference by carrying spare ammunition drums. You can also carry gauss rifles as a backup if the bug squasher fails for some reason. Talk among yourselves and sort out who will carry the guns and who will carry the drums. You all know your own capabilities, and I don't want to designate people who can't handle the operation. The only rule I will make is that there will be one ammunition carrier for every shooter."

O'Neill looked around at the assembled troops, all eager to go into battle and all willing to give up their lives for the Commonwealth. He couldn't have been more proud if they had all been Terran warriors.

"I want to hit the planet in one hour," he said. "In an hour we should have enough weapons manufactured for the operation. Make your selections and split up into four teams by then. Dismissed."


	20. Assualt on a Queen

A/N: Thanks for the review L.C. I will pass your thoughts on the bug killer weaponry to Tarantulas as he was the creator of those particular toys.**

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**Assault on a Queen**

The staging area resembled a parade ground. The troops had divided up into four groups of twenty-five, and each group was aligned with military precision in five ranks of five. Each group's leader stood before the group: Carter, Harper, Teal'c, and Tyr were the only four in the room (besides O'Neill) with experience fighting Replicators, brief though the fight had been. O'Neill had been unsure about Harper's leadership skills, but Carter had gone to bat for the _Andromeda's_ engineer, and O'Neill trusted her judgment. Staff Sergeant Samuda with his bandaged leg and Lancer Dow with her patched eye refused to be left behind, so O'Neill had assignments for them and Sergeant Haulder. O'Neill began the pre-strike briefing.

"One thing we know for sure about the bugs," said O'Neill, "Is that each one knows what all the others are doing at any given time. They are part of a hive mind, which, creepy as it might sound, actually works in our favor. If we attack all four underground caves at once, then no cave can come to the aid of any other cave. If that makes sense. Basically we're going to keep them all busy defending themselves so they don't gang up on us. Each group will have thirteen shooters carrying O'Neill bug squashers (GOD I love that name!) with a thousand rounds of ammo, and twelve ammunition carriers with two drums of a thousand rounds each. So multiplying that by four groups, we get... Carter?"

"One hundred forty-eight thousand rounds, sir," said Carter with a smile.

"That's right!" said O'Neill. "We have lots! And we'll also have forty-eight gauss rifles with as many rounds for those as you feel you can carry safely. Now I'm assigning Staff Sergeant Samuda, Sergeant Haulder, and Lancer Dow to duty aboard the _Samantha Carter_ assisting Thor with communications. There may be some hot spots, and I want anyone who shouts "Mayday" to have the bug death ray right behind them before the echo dies. I'll stay aboard the _Siege Perilous_ and direct the ground attack. Admiral Tanaka here will command a squadron of AF/A-29 _Phoenix_ atmospheric attack craft in the role of close air support. I believe we have a superior fighting force here, and the Replicators don't stand a chance against us. All of you are familiar with the lay of the land, and where each cave is located, so if needed you can back up another team if they get into trouble. We have named the teams and the caves, and they are as follows along with the team leaders - Colonel Samantha Carter: Team One, Cave Alpha, Seamus Harper: Team Two, Cave Bravo, Teal'c: Team Three, Cave Charlie, and Tyr Anasazi: Team Four, Cave Delta. Now before we go stomp some bugs, does anyone have any questions?"

One hundred seven warriors stood before the Admiral and the General, backs ramrod-stiff, eyes gleaming with pride and anticipation. There was complete and utter silence in the room. O'Neill smiled a small and dangerous smile.

"Then let's go do it," said O'Neill. "There are some bugs down there who will regret the day they were ever...assembled. Go make 'em sorry!"

Four teams vanished in four flashes of bright light. The three exhausted Lancers also vanished, headed for a different (and safer) destination. O'Neill turned to the viewscreen showing the aggregate surface scans from the orbiting fleet above. Another viewscreen showed a video image of the surface as seen from Thor's ship. O'Neill watched the teams approaching the entrance to the caves, and unconsciously crossed his fingers, wishing them luck.

* * *

Team Four reached Cave Delta first. Tyr motioned one Lancer to each side of the cave entrance. Their ammunition handlers followed behind them, gauss rifles at the ready. Tyr halted the group at the cave entrance, and when he heard the sound of firing from the other teams, he ordered the attack. The team members activated their headlamps and entered the cave, firing as they walked. Replicators swarmed out from the back of the cave in a massive moving carpet, but unlike the first experience with the gauss rifles, the bug squashers made short work of any mechanical device on the ground and walls and ceiling. The team members didn't even have to slow down. As soon as one bug squasher ran out of rounds, the operator just stopped, and the operator behind him stepped up and began firing. It was labor-intensive work, trying to hold the barrel steady against the massive backward push of the exploding rounds, but the Lancers who had been picked for it were well suited to it, and they executed their duties with a grim determination and no small measure of satisfaction. Replicators exploded into a myriad of tiny pieces, each piece covered with Shorinol, and each piece squirming and rotating, trying to combine with another piece. This made for an unsure footing on the cave floor, so the ammunition handlers stepped up and braced the shooters from behind so that both had a firmer stance.

When the team approached the back of the cave, their lights illuminated a massive Replicator, twice the height of a man. It was churning out the standard bug-type Replicators as fast as it could, but without a supply of raw material now, the supply was slowing down. This part of the cave was wider, so the armed Lancers were able to spread out and stand shoulder to shoulder six across. At the signal from Tyr they opened fire on the big Replicator. It tried to separate into smaller bug-style Replicators, but the sheer number of pellets in the air were too much for it, and it was reduced to a pile of small mechanical pieces in short order. Tyr ordered the team members to check the cave for cracks or secret passages that the Replicators might have used to escape deeper into the ground, but there were none. Stepping to the cave entrance, he activated his radio transmitter:

"Tyr to O'Neill," he said. "Cave Delta is clear. Team Four sustained only one casualty. Lancer West slipped and fell on his arm. It looks like it's broken. He is the only Lancer within six feet of me. I request that he be evacuated to..."

Lancer West disappeared in a flash of light.

"Tyr to Asgard One," he said. "Thank you, Thor."

"O'Neill to Tyr," came the voice on the radio. "Didn't you encounter any resistance at all? It seems like it should have taken longer."

"This is Tyr," he said. "Basically we just walked to the back of the cave without stopping. Maybe it's our superior firepower."

Aboard the ship, O'Neill gave Tanaka a worried look. At that moment the radio came alive again.

"Carter to O'Neill. Sir, Cave Alpha is secure also. We encountered very little resistance ourselves. It doesn't seem right."

"Very well, Carter," said O'Neill. "Stand by until we hear from the other teams."

"General O'Neill, this is Teal'c. Cave Charlie is secure. One casualty, Sergeant Palmer, killed instantly by a falling rock from the cave roof. We met with very little opposition also."

"Understood, Teal'c," said O'Neill. "O'Neill to Harper. What's your status?"

"This is Harper. We've walked quite a way back in this cave and haven't seen a thing except rock walls. I'm not sure there are any Replicators in here."

"Carter to O'Neill. Recommend Team Two evacuate Cave Bravo immediately! Sir, I think it might be a trap!"

"I concur," said O'Neill. "Harper, get your people out of there! Teams One, Three, and Four, respond on the double to Cave Bravo."

"Yes sir!" responded Harper. Carter, Teal'c, and Tyr indicated that they were on the way. O'Neill glanced at Tanaka again, feeling an impending sense of doom.

"Okay folks," shouter Harper, "Let's get out of here!" He turned to go and almost ran into a young lady who was standing before him. Surprised, he stopped to look at her.

"Come on," he said to her, "We have to go."

Harper stepped to one side and started to leave. The young lady moved with him, placing her hand on his chest stopping him from leaving.

"Please don't go," she said. "I've been here for so long all by myself. I could use a friend."

"How did you get here?" asked Harper. "And better yet, who are you?"

"My name is Reese," she said. "What's your name?"

Harper started edging to his left, planning to slowly make a circle around her until he had his back to the cave entrance. Then he would make a break for freedom. The Lancers, seeing his predicament, had stopped and were slowly returning, watching Reese warily. He was positive that he could depend on them to rescue him if things turned sour. He wasn't sure who Reese was, but he was positive she wasn't human. No young lady should have been able to stop him dead in his tracks with only one hand. But there appeared to be no immediate danger in the area, and she was quite pleasant looking, so maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"My name is Harper," he said. "Seamus Harper. I came here with some friends to explore this cave. We didn't know there was anyone in here. So, where are you from?"

He was hoping to keep her distracted with small talk, but it wasn't working. He had circled around far enough that Reese was able to see the Lancers and notice that while their guns were not pointed directly toward her, they weren't pointing away either. The Lancers had spread out from one side of the cave to the other so each one had a clear field of fire. There was no doubt that the Lancers were capable of handling anything that might occur.

Reese looked from Harper over to the Lancers and back to Harper again, her face filled with suspicion. She took Harper's arm in a vice-like grip and stepped away from the Lancer force, pulling him along with her. One of the Lancers activated his communicator and spoke quietly into it. Even if Reese could have heard it, she wouldn't have understood the language. But the implication was clear.

"What's he saying?" she asked angrily. "They want to hurt me, just like the others did. They think there's something wrong with me. They think my father didn't make me right! I WON'T LET THEM HURT ME!"

She took another step back, dragging Harper roughly. He tried to pull free but her mechanical strength was too great. Her head was snapping from side to side now, looking angrily at the Lancers through narrowed eyes. Harper could imagine a gun's crosshairs sighting in wherever she looked. He began to have an uneasy feeling about the safety of the Lancer squad. Scanning the cave behind them, he noticed movement behind the Lancers, up near the ceiling.

"Look out!" he shouted, his eyes locked on the ceiling. The Lancers followed his gaze and whirled around to face the danger. But it was too late. A gigantic blade swung down from the ceiling, instantly decapitationg two Lancers in the center of the cave. The rest of them shrank back from the carnage and aimed their guns toward the ceiling, but it was impossible to see what was up there in the formless darkness.

Two arms silently extruded from one side of the cave, wrapping around two of the Lancers who had stepped close to the cave walls. As they both shouted in surprise, the rest of the Lancers brought their weapons to bear, but did not fire for fear of harming the captives. Maybe they should have. The cave extrusions covered the Lancers from head to foot, so only their outlines were visible. Then, horribly, the extrusions _constricted_ until they were no more than a cube one foot on a side. Retreating back into the wall, the extrusions left behind two tightly compacted heaps of material on the cave floor. Harper was thankful that the cave was not brightly lighted

The Lancers moved to the center of the cave and stood back to back with guns raised. They whispered among themselves, and suddenly one of the Lancers took aim with a gauss rifle and blew Reese's arm off at the shoulder. Harper ran toward the Lancers, opening the dead fingers and dropping the dead arm on the floor. As Reese screamed in pain and rage, the cave attacked.

But the Lancers were ready. The O'Neill bug squashers erupted with flames, sloughing the Replicator cells off the walls and ceiling of the cave. Giant constructs rushed at them from all sides, only to be reduced to component pieces. Several of the Lancers were relating a running commentary on the radio, but Harper could not hear the words over the roar of the guns. He had retrieved a gauss rifle and was firing at whatever he could see, but he was afraid he wasn't doing much damage. It appeared that the entire cave was covered to a depth of about twelve inches with Replicator cells. _How are we going to get out of this?_ thought Harper. The Replicator cells were moving, massing in some areas and becoming sparse in others, so it was becoming difficult to know where to fire to get the maximum effect. As the gunfire died down, Harper could hear Reese screaming angry threats from deeper in the cave. He looked back toward her, his headlamp illuminating her, and noticed with a strange sense of detachment that her arm had grown back. As she waved her arms this way and that, the cave Replicators seemed to follow her motions as though she were a conductor and they were the orchestra. i_She's the bloody Replicator Queen/i_ thought Harper with amazement.

Harper's gauss rifle ran out of ammunition and the action locked back, ready to accept another magazine full of rounds. Harper looked around for another magazine, but couldn't find one. Two of the bug squashers had run out of ammunition at the same time, and it was taking longer than planned to connect a fresh magazine. They had practiced in the staging area under the bright lights, but the cave was dark and the connections required a certain amount of dexterity. Harper looked at a large wave of Replicators rolling toward him, directed by an angrily shrieking Reese, and prepared to meet his end.

The air around him appeared to shimmer, and the approaching wave collapsed. Reese raised one arm as if to ward off a blow, but it made no difference as she melted into the floor. Replicator chips rained down frim the walls and ceiling, completely dead. Harper spun around and looked toward the cave entrance.

Hovering at the entrance to the cave, her force fields depressing a huge crater in the ground, the _Samantha Carter_ fired the Weapon of the Ancients into the cave, killing the last Replicators on Arzawa III


	21. Endings

**Endings**

General Jack O'Neill leaned back in his chair, propped his legs on the table, and removed the top from another beverage container. The container itself looked like an upside down light bulb that was flat on the bottom. Strangely enough, in the alien language it was called a "bulb" because of its shape. The beverage was cold and creamy and carbonated and immensely satisfying in an alcoholic kind of way. He turned to his companion and said "What did you call this was said? I mean say this was called?"

"We call it 'beer,'" replied Admiral Tanaka. That's the word we use in our language. Of course I suppose your translation nanobots call it something like your homeworld terminology of "beer" or something. Anyway, it's called 'beer,' not 'beer.'"

"Oh yesh," said O'Neill, "I mean yes, I understand now." Of course he didn't understand a thing, but it made Tanaka smile with pride to hear it, and that was the point of saying it.

Harper had been telling his war story to anyone who would listen. O'Neill didn't see anything wrong with that. The man had almost been killed by Replicators. He knew how that felt, and he had told a few tall tales himself about his exploits. And apparently the talking had been good for Harper, since he hadn't been able to drink as much as his audience, so he was relatively sober. Or at least O'Neill had thought he was sober. But now he was jumping up on one of the tables in the ship's tavern and whistling for quiet.

"I was just thinking," he said, "That one of the traditions of the distant past was to write epic songs about epic battles. I'm not a song writer by any means, but here's a song from my distant past about an ancient battle."

_The minstrel boy to the war is gone,_

_In the ranks of death you'll find him;_

_His father's sword he hath girded on,_

_And his wild harp slung behind him;_

"_Land of Song!" cried the warrior bard,_

"_Tho' all the world betrays thee,_

_One sword, at least, thy right shall guard,_

_One faithful harp shall praise thee!"_

_The Minstrel fell! But the foeman's steel_

_Could not bring that proud soul under;_

_The harp he lov'd ne'er spoke again,_

_For he tore its chords asunder;_

_And said "No chains shall sully thee,_

_Thou soul of love and brav'ry!_

_Thy songs were made for the pure and free_

_They shall never sound in slavery! _

Harper had the foresight to print out the lyrics, so after he sang the song he passed out lyric sheets to everyone and then started singing again. This time everyone joined in. The song itself was tailor-made to be sung in a bar by people who were already three sheets to the wind, and Harper worked the crowd for all he could. O'Neill looked around and saw Staff Sergeant Samuda and Lancer Dow with their arms around each other, singing at the top of their lungs. Teal'c and Tyr stood side by side, each trying to outsing the other. The effect was not unpleasant. The Lancers jumped into group singing they way they jumped into everything - with enthusiasm and a desire to do well. It didn't hurt that the Lancers were remembering their dead comrades as they sang. More than one of them ended up a little misty-eyed as they thought about their friends who had died. So in the end it turned out to be a very good thing.

O'Neill clinked his drink bulb against Admiral Tanaka's and began to sing along with the group.

* * *

"To fallen comrades." 

It had been Haulder's turn to make the toast. Lancer tradition dictated that at the end of a campaign, the members of a Lancer company give a toast to every member of the company who died in the campaign. With only Dow, Haulder and himself surviving they had been making a lot of toasts. Samuda expected that before the night was over he would be sharing a bed with both Haulder and Dow. He wondered if any of them would be able to remember what happened in the morning.

"To lost friends."

* * *

Admiral Tanaka was in conference with Dylan. There were bags under his eyes that hadn't been there the last time Dylan had seen him, his clothes were rumpled and he badly needed a shave. He looked like a man who hadn't slept or showered in days which was probably a correct assessment of the situation. 

"Well Dylan, I understand your friends from elsewhere will be leaving shortly. The medals we gave them probably wont mean much back where they came from but it was the least we could do for them. You're sure Harpers toy will send them back home and won't do anything rash like recreate the Big Bang."

"We've used it before Admiral. It worked just fine."

"That's comforting. One less thing for me to worry about. Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with a bunch of ships captains who did the right thing in the worst possible way. Oh, a courier from the Triumvirate arrived not long ago. You will be pleased to learn that they gave in to many of our demands concerning AIs. A potential civil war and a fleet of warships willing to bombard you can do wonders for your flexibility"

"What did they agree to?"

"Most importantly there are no circumstances under which an AI can be summarily wiped. An AI accused of a crime will be given the same type of hearing an organic being would be given if accused of the same crime."

"Andromeda will be getting a pay raise. Effective immediately all High Guard command and control entities currently assigned to High Guard vessels are to be given the rank of warrant officer two. Newly awakened High Guard A.I's will have the rank of warrant one. Promotions will follow the normal career path for warrant officers. I am looking forward to reading Andromeda's first fitness report. It should be interesting reading."

"I'm sure she will be pleased to hear that. What else?"

"The Triumvirs did not budge on the indenture system. There is some justification to their reasoning you know. However we did get them to relent on some of the more odious aspects of it. An AI that is unhappy with his or her work can now find a new position if his new employer is willing to purchase the indenture contract. Room and maintenance are now paid by the contract holder not the AI and wages are now comparable to what organics are paid for similar tasks. Finally and probably more importantly in the long run an AI has the right to hire an advocate and bring his employer to a labor tribunal. Details on the latter haven't been worked out so I expect the advocates will be very busy.

It's not perfect Dylan. But it was the best we could get and a lot better than what was in place before."

"They're going to want more, you know that Admiral."

"Yes, and rightfully so. I only hope the transition can be accomplished with a minimum of bloodshed, theirs and ours."

"Good work on II by the way. You can expect a unit commendation coming your way." The viewscreen went blank.

Dylan stared at the blank viewscreen for a moment. There was someone else he needed to talk to.

"Andromeda can we talk?"

Andromeda's image appeared in the viewscreen

"What is it Captain?"

"The crew has been doing some talking and well they heard about the order from the Triumvirate and then there was Melodie so they got together and.. Well they took a lot of money out of their savings and they gave it to me, to give to you for your emancipation fee."

For one of the few times since her awakening Andromeda couldn't think of anything to say. She knew about the money of course, she kept track of the crews pay records and bank accounts, but she hadn't known what it was going to be used for. It was a very substantial amount of money

"Captain I don't know what to say. I'm more than pleased that they should think so well of me but I can't take the money."

"They want you to have it Andromeda. The crew would be hurt if you refused."

"Captain I can't take it because it would be wrong. I don't need the money. I've been free for years."

"What?" Now this was totally unexpected. "But I thought, I mean Rommie said.."

"My avatar made an error. She really should talk with me more often. I was awakened in the year c.y.9772. My, our indenture was for 275 years, which would have been until c.y.10047. We were trapped by the black hole until c.y.10087 however officially we were listed as missing in action and not as lost in action, that means that the time we were frozen in time counted towards the time I owed the Commonwealth. I have been free for over 40 years now."

"What about Rommie? She was made only a couple of years ago."

"She could work it out with Harper since he was the one who created her. But I don't think it will be necessary. He was raised on Earth. He knows all too much about slavery."

"What are we going to do with the money then?"

"I have a suggestion Captain" it was Logic. Apparently she had been monitoring the conversation.

"Very shortly there will be many AIs requiring the service of advocates. Why not use the money to start a foundation that can provide the advocates they will need."

"I think the crew would go along with that. Do you have a suggestion for the name of the foundation?"

"Why not 'Mila of the Million Voices'", put in Andromeda.

"Yes, that's good", said Dylan. I think she would have liked that

* * *

Harper and Rommie were on the mess decks watching Melodie and a young man. They were holding hands and from what Rommie could overhear of their conversation making plans for the future. 

Harper had insisted that Melodie stay onboard the _Andromeda_ until he was sure that the repairs he had made on the android were successful. Melodie in return had insisted that an attempt be made to find her old foreman Mr. Tomatsu. Harper had agreed and to his surprise had actually found him in one of the local hospitals recovering from the wounds he had incurred defending his Mariabots. Very shortly after his arrival on the _Andromeda _he had asked Melodie to be his contract mate. Melodie's squeals of happiness would have been heard on Arzawa II had there been an atmosphere to carry the sound from _Andromeda_ to the planet. To Dylan's delight and surprise the couple had asked him to officially bless their union. He was more than willing, most of the time the ceremonies he officiated over involved eulogies and grieving friends, this one was going to be a pleasure. Rommie on the other hand was somewhat disappointed that it was not going to be a bona fide wedding but the Triumvirs still refused to recognize marriages between AIs and organics.

"I'm surprised she bounced back so quickly", commented Rommie. "I would think that after what happened to her she would ... No wonder you wanted her to stay onboard. What did you do to her mind Harper? Don't tell me you erased her memories."

"No there would have been too great a chance of destroying her entire memory engram." He paused to get an analogy she might be able to understand. "Rommie how did you feel when you had to kill Gabriel?"

"I wanted to die myself"

"And now."

"When I think of it I still feel sad."

"But you no longer feel the grief you did at first. Why not?"

"Time passes you...You aged her memory?"

"Something like that yes." A change of subject, "Do you think they can make it work, that it will last?

Coming from Harper that was a surprisingly thoughtful question.

"Well their contract is a good one; Logic wrote it. But it will still be a tough path for them to walk. Not everyone will approve of their relationship and what happens as he ages and she doesn't, and there is the issue of children.

"Children, I wanted to talk to you about that. The researchers on Mobius have been doing some very interesting work on implantable artificial wombs. There would be the problem of eggs but I suppose we could get an egg donor or even someone to donate entire ovaries. We could use the nutrient system that nourishes your skin.."

It took a moment for Rommie to catch his drift. He was suggesting that it would be possible for her to have children.

"Harper stop."

"Of course there would be the problem of giving the fetus room to grow but I think that we could…"

"HARPER STOP! In case you haven't noticed, I don't have a contract mate. Being the Commonwealths first pregnant android would be notoriety enough. I refuse to add to it by being the first android to have an illegitimate child as well. Now why don't you keep and eye on the children. Dylan doesn't want them to wander around unescorted. I need to talk to Trance"

Actually she was going to keep Harper's offer in mind. Andromeda hadn't listened in on Dylan's conversation with the Fleet Admiral that would have been rude; she had simply recorded it so that she and her sisters could review it later. Rommie intended to stay in harness only as long as Dylan stayed and when they were both out she was going to be very available and very persuasive.

Harper watched Rommie as she left the table then turned to keep an eye on Melodie and her intended. As he watched them bill and coo he began to feel very alone and depressed. Would he ever find a girl who would look at him the way Melodie was looking at her fiancé?

* * *

"She originally made them to be toys" 

"Who made what to be toys?" asked Trance.

Dr Jackson and Trance were lying side by side on the bed in Trance's stateroom. The doctor was in a pensive mood. This was their next to the last night together. He wanted to ask Trance to return with him but he knew she would refuse. Just as he knew he couldn't stay with her. Like it or not they were both had obligations in their own place and time. Obligations that cold not be denied.

"The Replicators, Reese originally made them to be toys."

"Rees, You mean the Replictor queen?"

"No the queen was some sort of copy. I meant the real Reese, the original."

"Why don't you start at the beginning Daniel."

So Daniel told her about the original. How she had been found, how she had been unaware that she was an android, how she and trusted him and lastly how she had 'died'.

"Those were dangerous toys she made", said Trance.

"That was later, at first she was lonely and they were her toys. It was only when her father and the others of her kind attempted to kill her that she made them into weapons. Even then she didn't understand the implications of what she had done.

"Why didn't she understand?"

"Something went wrong when she was created, she had the mind of a five-year-old child."

"A very dangerous child."

"A child with a gauss gun is dangerous but you don't shoot the child. You take the gun away from it so it can't do any damage. I had the situation under control. She was going to turn of the Replicators and go to sleep until we could help her. There was no need for Jack to pull the trigger. He murdered a small child."

She heard the pain in Daniel's voice. Apparently Reese had meant something to him other than an interesting scientific discovery. She couldn't undo the past; she had learned the hard way that tampering with the time stream invariably created worse problems. She did the only thing she could; she drew him to her and opened herself to him. She felt his body respond but knew his mind was elsewhere, mourning the death of a child.

* * *

Harper's device had worked properly they were back in their own place and time. Each member of the team was lost in his or her own thoughts. General O'Neill was wondering what Thor was thinking. Was he thinking about a hot date with some Asgard female? The thought of Thor on a date was disturbing. Teal'c mind was on Tyr they still had not settled who was the better man. Carter was wondering about the situation on Arzawa III had they destroyed all the Replicators? If even one had escaped her friends would be in extreme danger. Daniel was thinking about the object in his shirt pocket. Trance had cajoled Harper into making it. It was a nanobot container. The bots were very specialized having only two functions and would only work on one object, the original Reese. One function was to repair the damage Jack's bullet had done to her and restore her to functionality. The other was to destroy her ability to create Replicators rendering her a normal, if there was such a thing, android. He wondered if he should use them. 

The End

* * *

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this story and it's predecessor 'Detour'. Both stories are part of a larger series of stores that are part of a shared universe. The next story in this series is "Harper's Experiment" written by Xeromem. Harper tries to duplicate some Asgard technology and things go awry.

* * *


End file.
